Equilibrium
by Celtic Oak
Summary: A series of oneshots set after Sunagakure belly dance. Views of everyday life in the shared world of Gaara and Sakura.
1. Craving

**A/N: **Well, I'm back! I decided to go ahead and publish this series of one-shots, taking place after _Sunagakure belly dance_. I like this idea a lot, since it gives me a lot of free reign for all the different ideas which shoot through my mind concerning Gaara and Sakura. The possibilities of scenarios are endless! Hehe. So, here's the first one.

I really enjoyed writing this vignette; the idea was just too tempting for me not to write it.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters of Naruto. This story was written for entertainment purposes only.

* * *

_Summary:_ Never having experienced such a situation in his life, Gaara is forced to deal with a craving and goes on a personal mission to acquire some… ice cream.

* * *

There it was again, the incessant interruption of his brain.

Once more, in an attempt to silence the irritating disturbance in his daily work, he forced himself to concentrate on the report at hand.

"…_The meetings with the diplomatic envoy from Cloud were satisfactory. Members of said village were reluctant to open their borders to allow Suna emissaries through. However, they were pointedly reminded of the reigning alliance and of the benefits in communication this…"_

Yet again, his brain managed to boycott his reading, forcing him to lose concentration and suddenly, all thoughts and ideas of the diplomatic missions which were so important to Suna at the moment, banished in the air.

'Just what the fuck is wrong with me?' the Kazekage thought in frustration. He'd been fighting his lack of concentration all morning, and after hours of futile warfare against his treacherous mind, he still couldn't pinpoint the cause of his constant distraction.

Growling in aggravation, he leaned back in his armchair, glaring at the report on his desk, as if the piece of paper were responsible for his annoyance. He grinded his teeth, anger making its way steadily towards the surface. If he continued like this, he wouldn't be able to get even half of his work done today. This just wouldn't do.

It was time to change tactics. As it seemed that _ignoring _his deceitful brain wasn't going to work, then maybe he could listen to what it had to say and get the whole thing over with. If he gave his wandering mind just 5 minutes of his attention, maybe that would be enough to shut it up for the rest of the day.

Satisfied with his strategy, Gaara closed his eyes, breathing in and out steadily. Allowing his body to relax just as if he were initiating meditation, he allowed his mind free reign.

Due to the constant restraint the Kazekage had over his thoughts, it was strange to suddenly allow himself to think whatever he pleased. Having lived his whole life strictly controlling every single idea passing through his head, which was part of the job description when you had Shukaku sealed inside your body, this was not an exercise Gaara indulged in often. However, he was completely sure that the distractions he was suffering were not coming from the demon tanuki, therefore, it was safe to explore them further.

After a couple of minutes of light meditation, an image started showing up in the Kazekage's mind. It was not completely clear at first, and in truth, it wasn't exactly an image… it was more like a… _taste._

Frowning at this development, Gaara reluctantly allowed it to continue.

'Vanilla', he thought surprisingly, as he recognized the signals his mind was sending him. 'Vanilla… vanilla… _vanilla ice cream?_' The thought arrived in full force, sending his already muddled brain into a frenzy. The reaction was so intense he could feel his mouth watering slightly.

Slightly shocked, he opened his eyes just to make sure no one else was in the office with him. It wouldn't do for someone else to catch Suna's Kazekage in a moment of obvious weakness, salivating like a brainless dog.

His anger followed quickly on the heels of the realization that his devious brain had been boycotting his work all morning just because of some _stupid_ longing for vanilla ice cream.

'Why, in the name of _all_ that is holy, would I, Sabaku no Gaara, have any _real use_ for vanilla ice cream?' he thought, furious with himself.

After a whole minute of being the object of attention of his own wrath, the red head decided that it was in his best interest to calm down, at least slightly. He wouldn't be able to analyze his situation if he went on a killing spree, no matter how much such a course of action would alleviate his stress. Not only that, but his psychological stability would be seriously questioned if he took up such habits once more. Refraining from killing people on a whim had been a crucial decision when he was elected as Kazekage and he was not about to surrender his post.

A different course of action was clearly necessary. He needed to pinpoint the source of his need for vanilla ice cream and thoroughly eliminate it.

If he remembered correctly, he was suffering from what was commonly known as a '_craving'_… a state of longing for something completely useless, which, in Gaara's point of view, was a condition reserved only for little children and pregnant women. How he'd allowed himself to fall to such low levels was beyond his current comprehension, but that was not the point at the moment.

Gaara had tasted ice cream only _twice_ in his entire life and the latest of these events had taken place just a couple of weeks ago. Having reluctantly agreed to give a lecture concerning Suna's security to some second year students at the shinobi academy, the Kazekage managed to scrape through the experience only to find himself on an outing with said children. Their sensei, a man who Gaara almost fired on the spot, had the _brilliant_ idea of taking them out for an excursion to eat some ice cream after the lecture… an activity which included their unenthusiastic leader. Knowing it was necessary to keep his reputation intact, especially when the runts would stare up at him with nothing short of awe-struck admiration in their eyes, he was forced to accept the invitation.

Hence, he found himself standing in front of the ice cream vendor, looking over all the flavors available. On a whim, Gaara had chosen vanilla, since he'd enjoyed the smell on Sakura's skin and…

_**SAKURA!**_

That was **_it_**!

Standing up abruptly as the realization hit him, his angry chakra swirled all around his private office.

This was all_ **her** _fault!

Growling loudly as he slammed his fists against his desk in a violent motion, Gaara finally reached the root of his continuous distraction throughout the whole morning.

He _missed_ her, damn it!

Sakura had left almost a week ago to attend some meetings back in Konoha and wouldn't return for another 3 days. Reluctant to let her out of his sight for even a few moments, Gaara had planned on accompanying her back to her home village but she had painstakingly disagreed. After exploding in the usual manner whenever his ideas concerning _her_ met any kind of resistance, Gaara managed to find the logic behind her disagreement (important paper work, managing missions, leading a shinobi village in general…) and very grudgingly admitted that she was right. It would be better if he stayed behind. He trusted her enough to take care of herself and it wouldn't kill him to be without her for a few days…

But from the way things were developing, him standing behind his desk in a fuming tantrum and experiencing idiotic cravings for something he'd never needed before in his life, he wasn't sure if he would manage to survive anymore. Everything pointed towards him going completely _insane_… even though if his medical records were reviewed, people would say this had already happened early in his life, but who the _fuck_ cared?

The point was that Sakura's absence was getting on his nerves, making him crave for things which reminded him of her. Trying to unconsciously recreate her presence with small and infuriating details, such as vanilla ice cream, he was trying to fill the sudden hole she had left in his life.

And the truth was he really _did_ miss her.

At night, he could still find her smell in the bed's pillows, making his heart clench involuntarily, wanted her to be there, in bed with him. She wasn't there to greet him every morning and wasn't there when he came home to his apartment after a day's work. Gaara had lived his whole life like this, without needing anyone else, but once he did find someone, her absence made him realize what an empty existence he had always led. Sharing wasn't something he did easily, but with Sakura, it had always happened effortlessly. They had welcomed one another into their lives, clearly knowing the good and the bad, so it was only natural for them to fall into step next to each other, shaping their lives into their own unique mold.

It wasn't easy, but their downs were always compensated by their ups. And for Gaara, who's life had once been a nightmare from which he never woke, everyday living became something he enjoyed and actually looked forward to… something which once, not so long ago, he would have never thought possible.

Coming back to the situation at hand, Gaara sighed deeply. Belatedly realizing that his fists were still pressed up forcefully against his desk, he lifted them slowly, opening them and shaking then slightly to relieve the tension in his fingers. Having successfully held his temper in check, he had managed to arrive to the source of his problem.

He missed Sakura, that much was clear and he admitted it openly to himself. Missing Sakura inexplicably caused his brain to function in a very strange way, something with which he wasn't happy, _at all_. This curious malfunction of his neurons led him to crave vanilla ice cream, which in an extremely weird way, tried to make up for Sakura's absence. The craving then disrupted his concentration completely, causing him to halt in his work every 2 minutes; something which _needed_ to stop if he wanted to keep his job. Officially, this problem required immediate action.

After a couple of minutes of intense troubleshooting in his head, Gaara narrowed down the solution to two options.

_Number one: _Using his sand as a mode of transportation and going over to Konoha to bring her back. Once she was in the immediate vicinity, he would be able to get back to his normal life and would be able to concentrate. However, to achieve this plan of action, he would have to enter foreign shinobi territory, kidnap her from whichever meeting she was in and face the wrath of not only the Hokage, but of Naruto as well. As much as he loved a good sparring match, the amount of work on his desk didn't allow him to take such leisure.

_Number two: _Leaving his office momentarily to search for the ice cream vendor and satisfy his craving. As much as he _hated_ to admit it, this was, by far, the most viable option.

Refusing to stay in his office behaving like a disgusting love sick puppy a minute more than was necessary, Gaara picked up his gourd, tied it to his back and walked out the door.

Once outside, he stood in the doorway, mapping out the best route to take. Personally, he would have preferred to travel across Suna's rooftops, as he used to do, but now, it wouldn't do to have the village's Kazekage jumping from roof to roof in an effort to avoid any human contact.

Settling for the more standard approach, Gaara proceeded to walk in the direction of the ice cream vendor, intent on getting this little mission over with.

As he walked down the street, a small part of him noticed how no one stopped to stare openly at him anymore. There were no whispers behind his back and no hostility displayed openly towards him. Ironically, the people who used to hate and fear him would now bow respectfully towards him, addressing him by his formal title. Smiling cynically at the fickleness of human nature, he returned their greetings in a polite but brief manner.

But in many ways, he knew he was no different from them. Now, instead of vowing to kill the villagers, he had promised to protect them and had risked his very life in doing so. After many years, they were finally treading on common ground and it gave Gaara a small measure of comfort to know this.

After a 5 minute walk, he finally spotted the ice cream cart parked at a corner, its proprietor sitting on a stool while he saw to his clients. Much to Gaara's anguish, those clients were all small children. This whole thing was such a low blow to his pride that he refused to even think about it.

After contemplating the possibility of bribing one of the runts to buy the ice cream for him, the Kazekage reminded himself that he needed to get back to work as soon as possible. And since when had Sabaku no Gaara ever hesitated before a task, anyway? The answer was _never_. This whole thing was just so below him he shouldn't even deign it with more than a few seconds of his time.

Unconsciously squaring his shoulders as he walked forward, the Kazekage stood at the end of the queue of children while he waited for his turn to buy his ice cream. It was inevitable for some of the kids to notice him as he stood there. Some of them gasped in surprise while some others whispered excitedly to each other; one even mouthed a huge "WOW" to his friend next to him. Refraining from rolling his eyes at their antics, Gaara took it all in stride… until a small girl came to stand next to him.

Out of sheer force of will, he managed to survive 2 whole minutes without paying any attention to her. But once he realized she wasn't going anywhere, he sighed in resignation and looked down at her, pinning her with one of his trademark glares. Much to Gaara's aggravation, she wasn't even slightly affected by this, since she just smiled up at him, batting her eyes constantly. She couldn't have been more than 9 years old.

"Konnichiwa, Kazekage-sama," she said brightly, never stopping her eye batting. If he didn't know better, he could've sworn she was attempting to flirt with him.

Sakura was going to _pay_ for this when she got back.

By the mercy of some benign deity, it was Gaara's turn in the queue.

"Three scoops of vanilla ice cream, please," he said curtly.

"Yes sir, coming right up," the vendor replied. "Would you like some type of topping with… ACK!" the man exclaimed, as he looked up to face his customer. "Kazekage-sama! I truly wasn't expecting to see you here! What an honor!" Bowing deeply before Gaara, the man forgot all about the red head's order.

At end of his patience, Gaara dropped all formality. "Could you please make it quick? I have a lot of work to do."

"Yes sir, I'm sorry, sir," the vendor said, returning quickly to the task at hand. "Would you like any…"

"No, thank you," Gaara interrupted. "I just want plain ice cream."

"Yes, sir, whatever you like, sir."

As the man handed Gaara the cup with the ice cream, the red head handed him the money.

"Oh no, sir!" the man exclaimed. "I cannot accept any payment from…"

"Oh, just take it!" Gaara said vehemently, throwing the coins on the cart's counter. Turning quickly on his heel he walked swiftly away, vaguely wandering what kind of food mothers fed their daughters to cause them to harass their leaders.

A few minutes later, the Kazekage was once more sitting behind his desk, a cup of half eaten ice cream in his hand, intently going over the reports in front of him. Having regained his concentration, he managed to fly through his work with his usual efficiency between spoonfuls of vanilla.

Once the cup was almost finished, he looked down into the plastic container with a look of satisfaction.

'This stuff isn't really _that_ bad,' he thought contently, his previous tantrum completely forgotten. 'I might have to procure some sort of supply of this… until _she_ gets back, that is.'

Taking the last spoonful into his mouth, he plunged once more into his work.

* * *

Read and review! 


	2. Jealousy

A/N: I'm happy to tell you that I'm actually on a roll with this story! Ideas are just popping into my head and the best I can do is write them down before I forget them.

I got the idea for this one shot after re-reading chapter 280 of the manga, were Gaara's rabid fan girls make an appearance. I actually found that hilarious. So I decided to incorporate it into my fic.

A warning must be placed here, since this vignette is officially M rated… wink-wink. I was actually kind of wondering if this whole thing was just an excuse to get Gaara and Sakura into bed… hmmm. Oh well, enough analysis, I hope you don't mind were they end up!

This chapter is dedicated to DarkAngelB, who suffers from an addiction to smex fics (I completely sympathize!). Just a little something to help feed her addiction.

* * *

_Summary:_ Sakura finds herself suffering from a fit of jealously and only the Kazekage can disperse her doubts.

* * *

Stretching lazily on the couch, a magazine in her lap, Sakura moaned contently. She was currently sprawled across the large sofa in Gaara's living room, passing the time away. Having arrived from Konoha a couple of days ago, she found that most of the medic teams she was training in Suna were currently on missions, leaving her with only a handful of students. Therefore, lessons were reduced to a bare minimum until her other pupils came back, leaving her afternoons free for the time being.

Falling on her back on the couch, she stared at the ceiling, happy to finally have some time to herself. Her trip to Konoha had been refreshing, even though she had been busy attending some meetings. She'd had the chance to catch up with her friends and spend some time with them after a few months of not seeing their faces. Of course, 'catching up' meant she would have to share some of her experiences as well, which promptly led to some controversy…

The look on Ino's face when she told her she was sort of 'dating' Gaara was priceless. They were drinking coffee at the time, and the blond kunoichi dropped her cup and splashed the brown liquid all over her garments. After she managed to calm down a bit, she assaulted Sakura with all sorts of questions, an unbelieving look in her eyes. From Sakura's point of view, the whole thing was extremely comical, but she didn't bother with any details. She gave Ino enough information to keep her satisfied, but wisely omitted to tell her of how she had belly danced for the Kazekage… it was better for her friend to find out later, when the idea of her and Gaara settled down a bit more inside her pretty blond head.

Naruto's reaction however, was a surprise. Sweeping her up in a giant bear hug, she was suffering from lack of oxygen by the time he let her go. They were strolling through a park with Lee, Neji and Tenten, taking advantage of the sunny afternoon. After the weapon's specialist had asked Sakura if there were any handsome medic nins in Suna (eliciting a scowl from Neji), the pink haired kunoichi had blurted out the whole thing. Naruto had laughed excitedly and was extremely happy with the news.

Sakura could only stare at him in confusion, but he didn't elaborate until later, when they were alone in his apartment. She'd asked him why he had been so thrilled, and he responded with a sad, but kind smile.

"After all he's been through, he _deserves_ someone like you," Naruto said, a wistful look in his eyes. "And it's comforting to think that people like _us_ can find some sort of happiness… it gives me hope."

Knowing exactly what he was talking about, Sakura found she could hardly breathe around the lump which had formed in her throat. But a heartbeat later, the moment was broken when the devious blond jumped straight into usual Naruto-mode and made some sort of perverted comment about Gaara. Sakura was forced to whack him forcefully on the head.

On the other hand, Lee's reaction was so predictable, Sakura found herself rolling her eyes in resignation. He'd stayed extremely quiet and stood still as stone when she delivered the news, his black hair covering his eyes. For a moment she thought he'd had some sort of seizure. But to everyone's shock, he jumped suddenly and assumed his 'good guy pose', saying that, once more, Gaara was his rival and that he would look forward to challenge him for Sakura's love. Immediately he said he had to go, since he needed to get stronger for his upcoming fight with the Kazekage, and ran away at full speed towards the training grounds. The pink haired medic vowed she would avoid, in every way possible, for Sabaku no Gaara and Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast, to EVER meet again.

Shaking her head in remembrance of Lee's antics, Sakura sat up on the couch. Her news _had_ been completely unexpected and honestly, if some months ago someone had told her that she would be involved in a relationship with the Kazekage, she would have laughed in their face. But now, here she was, lounging in _his _living room, sleeping in _his_ apartment and waiting for _him_ to get back home so they could eat dinner together. It truly wasastonishing and a bit mesmerizing.

Thoughts of dinner actually made her stomach start to grumble in hunger. Standing up, she made her way to the kitchen, intent on assaulting Gaara's food supplies for a snack. She checked his shelves but found them stashed only with some cans, some pasta and some fruits on the counter. There wasn't a cookie in sight. Opening the fridge, she didn't find anything really appetizing either; bottles of water and some vegetables. It would seem she would have to make a trip to the grocery store just to ensure her survival. Not thinking she would find anything of interest in the freezer, she was taken by surprise when she found a whole gallon of vanilla ice cream stashed inside.

Laughing at the sight, she shook her head in bewilderment since the ice cream certainly did not match with any of the other food products in the vicinity. There was a story behind this and she would get it out of him at some point. Deciding that she deserved a share of dessert, she reached up to take the gallon when she heard a knock at the door.

Closing the freezer, she made her way to the entrance of the apartment, wondering who it could be.

"Yes?" she asked, as she opened the door.

The sight of three teenage kunoichi met her eyes; they were giggling and whispering to each other. They couldn't be more than sixteen.

At the sight of Sakura, they sobered up instantly, a look of puzzlement in their faces. But the confusion was immediately replaced by arrogance and the three of them stared down their noses at the pink haired medic standing in front of them.

"Oh, it's you," the one standing in the center said disdainfully. It seemed she was the leader of this little gang.

Sakura _did not_ like were this was going.

"How can I help you?" she asked, plastering a smile on her face.

The three girls looked her up and down with disapproving looks.

"We're here to deliver a message to _our _Kazekage-sama. Is he here?" the one to the left asked.

'OUR?' Sakura thought angrily, as she eyed an envelope in the girl's hand. "No he's not," she replied curtly.

"Oh, I see," the girl said, not making any moves to hand Sakura the envelope.

The pink haired medic could feel her patience growing extremely thin. "I can give him the message for you when he gets home," she offered.

"We would actually prefer to give it to him personally, like we always do," the teenager to the right replied; she turned towards her friends and giggled, as if there was something they knew that Sakura didn't.

That was the last straw… Inner Sakura officially fell in a large cauldron of boiling oil. If they were going to play silly games, Sakura would beat them at it.

"Well," she said, inspecting her nails haughtily. "I really don't know when he'll get back, since I have to pick him up at his office later on. We're going out to dinner, you see." She was bluffing, but they didn't have to know.

"And honestly," she continued in a hushed tone, as if sharing a secret with them; all three leaned in, listening closely. "When we come home, he kind of gets, errm… _distracted_ and we usually end up in the bedroom, but…" she giggled, imitating them perfectly… "we really don't get any sleep, if you know what I mean."

A look of complete shock covered the girls' faces as their cheeks turned a deep crimson at the implied meaning of Sakura's words. All stupid giggles and self-important looks ceased completely.

Inner Sakura shook her fist in the air at her triumph, but her outer façade remained aloof.

"So," she finally finished, "if you want him to get the message and actually _read_ it, I think it would be best if you left it with me."

"Yeah… sure," the girl on the left said, pushing the envelope into Sakura's hand. Turning around, she pushed her still astonished friends out of the doorway not bothering to hide her hurry. Sakura could still see them blushing fiercely as they walked down the street.

Closing the door triumphantly, she leaned back against it as Inner Sakura patted her on the shoulder in congratulation. Her elation was short lived however, since she suddenly realized what she had lowered herself to.

'Yeah, real slick, Haruno,' she thought in contempt. 'That was so incredibly mature.'

Bringing her left hand to her temple, she couldn't help but remember how she and Ino used to behave around Sasuke. 'Like stupid air head brats', she thought, 'just like the ones standing outside a minute ago.' Right now, she had just regressed to behavior she had long ago discarded. It wasn't her proudest moment.

_Well, it's not your fault,_ her inner self told her. _**They** were the ones who started it._

'Yeah, but that's no reason to lower myself to their level… I shouldn't have even let them get to me,' she replied, thinking back to when she was a genin, with Sasuke and Naruto on her team. She had been so childish and naïve. Knowing very well that she had managed to grow up and put those stupid impulses behind her, it made the whole scenario even worse.

_Oh, stop moping. They're gone now and we successfully defended what's ours… like a great lioness defending her pride…_

'What?' Sakura thought in exasperation. 'Since when did _I_ become so possessive? Gaara's not _mine_, he's not some object I can own… he's his own person and that's exactly how I like…''

_Do I have to remind you of the last time you didn't defend what was yours?_

The pink haired medic froze, knowing precisely where her inner persona was taking this.

_Yes, exactly. **He** left; taken away by those freaks from Sound._

'Wait a minute! Sasuke was _never _'mine' and he left out of his own volition. It was **his** choice to leave.'

_Yeah, yeah, but that doesn't omit the fact that you weren't there to help him with those freaks. Are you going to let someone else take what's yours again?_

'He's not mine!' she replied frustrated, walking back to the kitchen once more. 'And no one's going to take him away, especially not some dumb teenage kunoichi with nothing but air for brains.'

_That's the spirit!_ _We need to eliminate all threats._

'I'm **not** eliminating anyone.'

But as the thought passed through her head, she looked down to the envelope in her hand. It was sealed and had something written with colorful markers on the front. Inspecting it closer, she saw the words '_Kazekage-sama'_ written in fancy lettering on the front, with a few red hearts decorating the envelope.

Sakura thought she was going to be sick.

Turning the offending object in her hand, she noticed that there was something written on the back.

'_Looking forward to our next meeting! Hugs and kisses!_'

Officially, her stomach churned in nausea… all thoughts of ice cream were completely flushed down the drain.

Slamming the envelope on the counter, she stalked her way to the living room. She threw herself on the couch, burying her face in a pillow to muffle her angry screaming. Feeling a bit better after that, she sat up, her mind racing.

She couldn't believe she was letting this get to her. She couldn't be so stupid. But the fact was that she was utterly _infuriated_ with the whole scenario and she didn't know what to do about it.

Gaara worked in close contact with these air heads, and from what she just read, he met with them on a regular basis. How _could _it be possible? How could he _do_ this to her?

What did they have that she didn't? Fine, they were a lot younger and their bodies were probably firmer… but **she** had a kick ass body! **She** was a kick ass kunoichi!

As a medic, her condition was always in top shape. Alright fine, sometimes she did wish that her breasts were bigger than they were, but that shouldn't matter, should it? Or maybe it did. Maybe Gaara wanted a girl with big breasts… Now that she thought about it, one of the members of the air head gang did have a big bosom…

"URRGHH!" she screamed in frustration, bringing the pillow up to her face.

She was acting stupid and she knew it. The problem was, she really couldn't help herself and her mind was getting the best of her.

So, by the time Gaara got home a couple of hours later, Sakura had successfully deep fried herself in her jealousy and was over cooked.

He found her in the living room, pretending to read a magazine. He could tell she was pretending, since her eyes weren't moving. She was staring directly at a spot on the page, trying very bad to ignore him.

Not being an expert in reading chakra like she was, Gaara couldn't pinpoint the emotion she was giving off. But having been around hostile people all his life, he instantly knew when someone meant business…

The Kazekage frowned in confusion. Something had happened here.

"Hey," he said in greeting, knowing he would inevitable have to make the first move.

"Hey," she replied, not even looking up at him, flipping a page in her magazine.

For her sake, he swallowed a growl. He had severely punished people for such insolence.

"How was your day?" he asked, keeping his tone level.

"It was ok," she answered noncommittally.

As was to be expected, she wasn't going to cooperate.

"Weren't we going to cook dinner?" he asked, his patience wearing extremely thin.

"You can cook if you want," she said offhandedly, "but I'm not hungry." Standing up, she threw the magazine on the coffee table. "I'm actually kind of tired, so I'm going to take a nap."

Walking towards the hall, she didn't look at him as she brushed past the spot where he stood.

"Oh, by the way," she said casually… a little _too_ casually, "a message arrived for you. It's on the counter. The girls who delivered it weren't the smartest cookies I've ever met. Maybe you should think about increasing the difficulty levels of your chuunin exams."

And with that, she continued down the hall towards the bedroom.

Gaara stood stone still, his mind racing. What had _just _happened? Thinking furiously, he went over the words Sakura had just thrown at him, trying to grasp the meaning behind them.

A message had been delivered to him, and from the looks of it, Sakura had had some sort of encounter with the messenger… or messengers, as the case would seem. From what she said, they were chuunins, therefore, the message was probably a note to let him know when their next meeting would be. He always had a meeting once a month with his chuunin group, so he could discuss strategies and missions. He always found it useful to know exactly what was going on with his shinobi.

This meant that the message was probably delivered by…

He stopped in his tracks.

No, she couldn't _possibly_ be upset about that.

Laughing sarcastically, the whole situation became crystal clear.

It would seem his pink haired medic had met Aiko, Suki and Mai: the newest hormone-crazy chuunins in the village. They were a threat to every male in Suna under the age of 25. Mothers _did_ feed their daughters strange things…

If Sakura's feelings weren't deeply involved, this whole situation would have been _enormously_ comical.

Shaking his head at the absurdity of it all, he decided to get this whole thing over with.

He stalked his way over to the bedroom, finding her laying on her side, face away from the door. It was easy to tell that she was only pretending to sleep.

Tired of the silly games she was playing, he crossed his arms in front of him and chose the most direct approach.

"You're jealous," he stated simply.

Sitting up in lighting quick, Sakura coiled like a snake ready to strike. "**WHAT?**"

"You heard me," Gaara replied, unfazed. "You're jealous. Some girls came to deliver a message for my next chuunin meeting and you found them threatening."

Fisting her hands beside her, Sakura made a mental calculation of how quick she needed to move to punch him in the face before his sand shield came up.

"I **did not** find them threatening!" she exclaimed, standing up. "How could you even think that I would feel threatened by a group of plastic, air head kunoichi! They are **so** below me I didn't even spare them a glance!"

Gaara pinned her with an incredulous look, letting her know he was far from convinced.

"It's not my fault that you choose to surround yourself with such denigrating company. I can't even comprehend how they actually managed to become shinobi! They probably slept with more than one of their examiners! The only thing they might be good at would be going undercover as prostitutes!" she exclaimed, at the top of her voice. Her breathing was coming in hard pants due to her anger.

Throughout her whole tirade, Gaara's cool gaze didn't waver. They stared at each other as an incredibly tense silence settled over the room, neither of them stepping down.

Sakura knew she was behaving like an idiot but it was too late to turn back. The whole situation had gotten a little out of hand and she was making of a big deal out of it. Here she was, a foreign ninja, demeaning the way he led his village and insulting his followers. She _had_ falling low.

Knowing Gaara's temper, she knew he wouldn't step down, so it would be necessary for her to make a retreat. Yes, that sounded just about right… she needed some time to regroup, to get her thoughts straightened out… and what better place to do so than in the bathroom?

Breathing in deeply, she closed her eyes, trying to regain her composure. Opening them again after a few seconds, she pinned the red head with a glare, turned on her heel and made her way directly towards the bathroom, which was thankfully located on her side of the room and was only a few steps away.

Once there, she closed the door behind her, ignoring the swirls of angry chakra coming from Gaara in response to her actions. Sitting on the tile floor, she brought her knees up to her chin, embracing her legs. 'Nice one, Haruno. You're just fucking it all up today,' she thought miserably. She growled softly, trying to clear her mind in the silence of the bathroom.

But her lover wouldn't have any of it.

Yelping as the door was suddenly torn off its hinges, Sakura couldn't do anything as tendrils of angry sand invaded her sanctuary, wrapping around her appendages and lifting her in the air. She started yelling every sort of obscenity she could think of, but she was quickly silenced as a wisp of sand covered her mouth and she was forced to close her mouth to avoid choking.

She was turned around in the air as the tendrils wrapped all over her body, preventing any movement. Once she was safely tied up, she was carried back into the bedroom. From her vantage point, she could see Gaara still standing in the doorway, a smirk on his face. The jerk hadn't even moved! Sakura glared back at him with all her might, but due to her position, she knew she appeared far from threatening.

Grumbling, she was placed into a sitting position on top of the bed. Moving slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, Gaara approached.

"Let's make some things clear," he said, sounding surprisingly calm. "First, you do not walk out on me when we are attempting to have a conversation…"

'A _conversation_?' she thought frantically. 'He calls _that_ a conversation!' She growled at him as best as she could.

"… Second, if you are upset about something, just say it. I don't care if you think it's stupid or not. I trust that if you are upset, then you have a valid reason."

Slowly, he approached the bed, sitting next to her. Leaning in towards her, he stopped until his nose was almost touching hers.

She still glared at him but made no sound.

"And third, why would I want to be with a stupid, immature kunoichi when I have someone like _you_?"

Suddenly, the sand on her mouth lifted completely and it was replaced by the feel of his lips over hers. His tongue plunged inside her mouth fiercely, stealing Sakura's breath in a heartbeat. It was amazing how he could make her forget her anger with just a kiss, but at the moment, the feel of his tongue against hers was intoxicating her brain… and she was in no position to fight it. Moaning at his aggressiveness, she felt the tension slowly drain from her body.

As he pulled away, she felt his sand slipping, loosening its grip. Staring directly into her eyes, he smiled wickedly.

"Now, are you going to behave?" he asked teasingly.

Sakura nodded, unable to do anything else.

"Good. Now let me show you how superior you really are."

As he finished his sentence, his hands were already divesting her of her clothing. The feel of his warm fingers against her cool skin sent thrills up her spine and across her skin.

"Gaara, I'm…" she started to say, but he cut her short, taking her lips between his teeth. His agile hands were already under her shirt, pulling it up. In one swift motion, he released her lips and pulled her blouse over her head. His hands returned to caress her back as he made quick work of her bra.

Powerless to do anything, Sakura could only feel as he got rid of the rest of her clothing with surprising efficiency. Pouting slightly at being naked while he was still fully dressed, she tried to unbutton his shirt, but he stopped her.

Shaking his head, he took her in his arms and laid her down on the mattress, looking appraisingly over her whole body.

Seeing the lust and want in his eyes clearly, Sakura berated herself for falling into a stupid fit of jealousy. How could she forget the desiring looks he always gave her? It didn't matter if she was naked or fully dressed, with a bad case of bed-head or tired from the day's work… he always made her feel yearned for.

He lay down on his side next to her, touching her softly. His fingers caressed her everywhere and soon, his tongue followed as well. Sakura was lost in a world of sensation, as Gaara patiently explored all the nooks and crevices of her body, sending her mind whirling. He took his own sweet time, and the feel of his tongue combined with the feel of his breath touching her skin. As he reached her tummy, she lifted herself up towards his mouth, pleading for more.

Chuckling in masculine pride at her reactions, the red head kept touching and laving her most sensitive spots with his tongue. He kept touching her gently, too gently for her tastes, making her yearn for a more assuring touch. He could tell she was extremely aroused, which was exactly how he wanted her to be. How could she even think he would ever want another when he _her_, such an amazingly responsive woman, in his grasp?

Sakura looked up at him as he lifted his head, catching his jade eyes. In their love making, there was a moment when his desire spiraled up into a frenzy and she could usually tell exactly when it happened from a certain spark which appeared in his eyes… she considered this occurrence as a warning to prepare herself to be ravished completely senseless.

Whenever he looked at her like that, with a shameless gleam in his eyes, her breath would catch in her throat and her heartbeat would become frantic, pounding in her ears. It was like being held by the gaze of a feline predator, knowing there no way to escape.

From the way he was gazing at her now, Sakura considered herself warned.

With swift and powerful motions, Gaara stood and relieved himself of his clothes. Returning to Sakura once more, he lay partly over her, holding himself up with his hands. Lowering his head for another fierce kiss, Sakura whimpered as he hovered above her, his chest not quite touching hers. Wanting to be pressed up firmly against him, she pulled herself up, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips.

Growling softly, Gaara held her close with one arm as he rolled over, leaving Sakura on top of him, straddling his hips. Sitting up as his nimble fingers touched her everywhere, Sakura hissed between her teeth, throwing her head back.

He smiled at her, taking her body in with his hungry eyes. Moving his hands between her legs, he caressed the throbbing spot where she loved to be touched, sending a jolt of pleasure throughout her body, making her forget everything else but his agile fingers.

Losing herself in the throes of her passion, Sakura's senses were reeling as he kept touching her just right and making lights dance before her eyes. As his other hand moved over her breasts, he kept caressing her, pushing her closer and closer to the edge.

Thoroughly enjoying the sounds she was making, Gaara grinned fiercely. The responses she was having only helped to arouse him even more. The sight of her perfect, naked body sitting on top of him was, by far, one of the best experiences he'd ever had in his life. Any man would go crazy if they saw her like she was now, head thrown back, lips parted as she elicited low moans, fingernails biting into his skin… But this 'show' was only for him and such knowledge triggered an intense feeling of satisfaction. Sakura was _his_ and her thoughts were utterly erroneous if she considered that she could be replaced by someone else. He would teach her to discard such stupid ideas.

It was suddenly too much. Without warning, Sakura's world exploded into a universe of pleasure as her body racked with the spasms of her orgasm, mouth open in a silent scream. Distantly, she heard herself crying out his name, letting out a lingering moan as she slowly came back down to earth.

Falling down on top of him, she was breathing hard, trying to compose herself. But Gaara had other ideas.

When she felt him lower her on her side, Sakura knew it was far from over. He rolled over to face her, lifting her leg over his hip, leaving her terribly exposed. Looking up at him, she saw that lusty glint in his eyes and she braced herself for what was to come.

It would surely be a long night.

In the middle of it all, after her voice was hoarse from screaming her pleasure more times than she could count, Sakura vaguely thought about her encounter with the teenage kunoichi.

It seemed, after all, that what she told them really wasn't a bluff: the Kazekage _did_ tend to get distracted… and he would follow through with his distraction 'till the very end.

* * *

There you have it! Let me know what you think. I already have already started some other one-shots, so hopefully I'll be able to put them up soon.

Thanks for reading!


	3. A concept of flowers

A/N: Here's another little one-shot for you. This one's just short and sweet, so beware the high sugar content. Hehe.

* * *

_Summary:_ Gaara fumbles with the notion of 'showing appreciation' but Sakura's always there to help him.

* * *

"What's that?" he asked, noticeably irritated.

Stopping momentarily as she served herself breakfast, Sakura turned around, slightly confused. He wasn't looking at her, so she followed his gaze and noticed it was falling upon the flowers resting on the counter. Not being able to find a small vase to put them in, she had deposited the small bouquet into a glass.

"Oh," she said, returning to her food once more, "those are desert roses. Aren't they pretty?"

"I _know_ what they are," he answered with annoyance.

'Well, you _did_ ask!' Sakura thought, but kept quiet.

Glaring at the offending flowers as if he could disintegrate them by the sheer force of his will, Gaara tried to maintain his cool. He knew these flowers didn't grow in the vicinity of the village; you had to travel north for a bit before you found any. Sakura hadn't left Suna recently, therefore, she must have procured them from another source.

He didn't like were his thoughts were leading him…

Sitting in front of him on one of the stools at the kitchen counter, Sakura noticed Gaara's breakfast lying half-eaten on his plate. From the way he was staring at the flowers and from the scowl which was steadily forming on his face, it was easy to predict his line of thinking. The idea of having a quiet and pleasant breakfast slowly slipped away from Sakura's grasp.

Still, she wasn't going to fall for the bait. If there was something bothering him, he would come out and say it. He'd told _her_ that this was how he wanted their relationship to work, so the least he could do was follow his own advice. Thus, the pink haired medic proceeded to dig into her toast and scrambled eggs.

After a few moments, she sensed as he returned to his plate and resumed eating. But she knew it was far from over… this was only the calm before the storm.

"So, where did you get them?" he asked with an exaggerated calm tone. He didn't look up at her as he spoke, gaze fixed on his breakfast, as if he were asking a completely casual question. He could be such a _baby_ sometimes.

Knowing he wasn't watching her, Sakura rolled her eyes in resignation. She decided to get this whole thing over with.

"Rinji gave them to me," she said, matching his casual tone flawlessly. "He's one of my higher level students..."

"I _know_ who he is," he interrupted, as if reminding her of his omnipresent knowledge of his village.

But Sakura promptly ignored him and continued with her explanation. "He was on a mission these past few days and he brought the flowers back for me."

"And why did he bring you flowers? Did you ask for them _specifically_?"

It took all her inner strength to avoid rolling her eyes again.

"No, I did not," she replied. "He brought them back because he said they reminded him of me. You know, their petals are pink, like my hair," she continued off-handedly. "He also said that I was like a desert flower, blooming in the adversity of the desert."

"So you don't like it here? It's too _adverse_ for you?" he asked accusingly.

Sakura dropped her fork on the plate and counted to 10 before answering. She knew she shouldn't fall for his taunting since he was voicing his insecurities as best as he could. Having suffered from a jealousy attack herself, she knew one wasn't prone to thinking rationally under its effects.

"Gaara, you know I love it here with you," she replied, taking his hand in hers and forcing him to look at her. "I wouldn't be anywhere else." As jade met emerald, she offered him her most sincere smile.

He pouted a little, but the soft caresses on his hand were distracting him from his irritation, offering reassurance. Nevertheless, he was determined to see this through.

"And _why_ did you accept the flowers?" he asked, annoyance showing through his voice once more.

Sighing loudly, Sakura reminded herself to be patient as she contemplated visions of a blood soaked Rinji arriving at the hospital during her watch, remnants of sand in his life-threatening injuries.

"Because," she replied, "it was a really kind gesture and he went out of the way to do something nice for me. He was really grateful since I helped him learn a really difficult bone healing jutsu and he just wanted to show his appreciation."

The red head cocked his head to the side, as if analyzing the concept of 'appreciation'. "And you like these kind of gestures?" he asked. From the curious tone he was using, Sakura knew she had successfully diverted his attention and evaded a full-on argument. His anger was apparently forgotten, at least for the time being. The quickness with which his emotions shifted would always amaze her.

"Yes, of course," she replied, intent on keeping his jealous impulses from returning. "Showing your gratitude towards another person is really gratifying, at least for me. And it doesn't have to be anything big, you can show it through small actions. Like when I wash your dishes for you or when you wait for me so we can eat dinner together. Sometimes, you don't really need a reason to show you care. Every once in a while, I used to invite Naruto out for ramen just because I knew he loved it."

His head was still leaning to the side, as if deeply contemplating what she was saying. "Just because?"

"Yeah," she replied, a huge grin on her lips. The thoughtful look on his face was terribly endearing and she couldn't resist leaning over and kissing him lightly on the lips.

Picking up his dishes along with hers, she deposited them in the sink. "I'll take care of these later, ok? I really need to get going or else I'm going to be late."

Putting some books into her satchel, she threw it over her shoulder. After giving Gaara a tender peck on the cheek, she walked towards the door.

"Have a great day!" she said happily, stepping outside.

Still sitting on his stool, the Kazekage didn't move. A curious expression was plastered on his face as he stared at the pink flowers, as if trying to decipher their mystery.

XXXXXX

Wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, Sakura stepped outside the operating room. She wore some of the hospital's medic robes, which were anything but cool in the desert heat. Today, she was showing her students the procedures of certain minor surgeries, so she would spend most of the day in the hospital. It was nearing midday and the temperature outside was reaching its zenith. Even though all buildings had inner cooling systems, when you were inside a small room, cramped with a load of people looking over your shoulder, they weren't much good.

Hence, the pink haired medic had wisely decided it was time to call for their lunch break and had made a run for it. Making her way hurriedly towards the cafeteria, her mind entertained fantasies of a huge glass of ice-cold water.

As she turned a corner, she bumped straight into something solid. Stumbling backwards, she managed to catch her balance just on time, already voicing an apology.

"I'm so sorry! I really wasn't paying attention to…"

Looking up, her words died on her lips, as red hair and jade eyes met her gaze.

"Gaara?" she asked, pleasantly surprised. "What are you doing here?"

There was grumpy look on his face and he scowled as he spoke.

"I'm the village's leader. I can be wherever I want, whenever I want."

Sighing softly, Sakura half smiled at his usual grouchiness.

"Well, I'm sorry I questioned your authority, oh mighty and merciful Kazekage," she replied sarcastically, humor in her voice.

Glaring at her as he stood there, arms crossed in front of him, Gaara decided to ignore her comment. Turning swiftly towards a waiting bench standing beside him, a large bouquet of flowers suddenly appeared in his hands. Shoving them in Sakura's direction, his expression was carefully neutral.

A gasp of surprise escaped Sakura's lips as her face lit up completely. The flowers in front of her were the most beautiful she had ever seen. There were hues of pinks, blues, yellows and reds everywhere, and the different types of blooms came in all different sizes.

"They're beautiful!" she exclaimed, taking the proffered bouquet in her hands. She brought it to her face, smelling the delicious and diverse scents coming from the flowers. "Where did you get them?"

A look of smugness crossed his face at her reaction. "I took the morning off and went north of the village. It seems your friend Rinji doesn't know of the good flower spots," he replied arrogantly, crossing his arms once more.

Sakura looked at him reproachfully, but didn't say anything. He always had the need to not only surpass anyone he considered a rival, but to crush them in the process as well. But she wasn't about to steal his victory… he truly deserved it.

"I love them," she said, standing up on her tip toes and kissing him. "But you really didn't have to go out of your way, I know you have lots of work to do…"

"Just because," he interrupted her, as if the simple phrase explained everything.

Amazingly, Sakura realized it truly did.

Caressing his cheek with her free hand, she looked up at him, her eyes smiling with happiness.

"Thank you."

He nodded at her once, a triumphant smile forming on his lips. It seemed he had just won a personal challenge with himself.

Without saying another word, he disappeared in a rush of sand, leaving Sakura standing alone in the corridor.

XXXXXX

"Sakura-sensei?"

No reply.

"Sakura-sensei?"

The pink haired medic's gaze didn't waver from the flowers standing in the corner, a dreamy smile on her face.

Naoko proceeded to prod her teacher on the arm with her finger.

Jumping at the contact, Sakura came back to earth with a jolt, finding one of her students standing beside her.

"I'm sorry, Naoko!" she exclaimed apologetically. "My mind was elsewhere."

Sighing softly, Naoko shook her head but smiled knowingly. All the students in Sakura's class knew of her relationship with the Kazekage, so when their teacher walked in with a huge bouquet and didn't pay much attention to them the whole afternoon, it wasn't difficult to know where the flowers had come from. It was a good thing they already knew most of the surgery procedures they had had to handle that afternoon and they were a pretty advanced group. Sakura's lack of focus would have been lethal with a younger trainee group.

"We already finished picking up, so we wanted to know if there was anything else you needed," the medic-in-training said.

Sakura looked behind her student, only to find that the surgery room was sparkly clean and all equipment had been put away. Her students were all huddled together, waiting for her to give them final instructions.

"Oh, yes. Sorry," she said, "you can all go. We're done for the day. Make sure you go over that blood clotting jutsu we saw today, we're going to go over it with more detail tomorrow."

Waving goodbye to their sensei, her class walked out, leaving echoes of happy shouts and conversations behind them.

Getting up, Sakura put her things in her satchel, heading to the corner to pick up her flowers, which had been deposited in a large beaker filled with water. Inhaling deeply to catch their smell, the pink haired medic lifted them into her arms and made her way out the door.

XXXXXX

As the temperature started cooling at an amazingly fast rate, Gaara closed the double doors of his office behind him. The sunlight was rapidly fading and soon, the freezing grasp of the desert night would take hold of the village.

Making his way tiredly down the hall towards the building's entrance, he rolled his shoulders in an attempt to release the tension in his muscles. It had been an extremely stressful afternoon; having taken the morning off, he had to make up for his leisure once he got back, which basically meant double the work load.

But he _was_ Sabaku no Gaara after all, and he'd managed to get the irritating paperwork involving new missions done efficiently, despite the hovering and irritating council members. It seemed they always had to give an opinion about _everything_, even though the Kazekage never asked for it… in all honesty, he didn't even care about what they thought most of the time. But the ever present human need for bureaucracy was difficult to eliminate, hence, he would swallow his pride and humor the council as best as he could.

This, however, didn't mean he couldn't throw them out of his office on a whim. More than once, Gaara had erupted into one of characteristic temper tantrums and had made the committee members run for their lives. Grinning sadistically at the memory of his last outburst, the red head appreciated the small but satisfying privileges his position brought him.

As he entertained these thoughts, he was getting nearer to the building's large door, which was open to the coming night's breeze. A light wind entered the hallway, bringing the sweet scent of vanilla with it. Unconsciously, Gaara picked up his pace.

He found her standing outside by the door, looking up at the pastel hues of the fading desert sunset. She looked beautiful.

Noticing there was someone standing beside her, Sakura turned to look in his direction, smiling as she realized it was him.

"Hey," she said softly in greeting, taking a step towards him.

He nodded towards her, admiring the way her pink hair caught the remaining light of the day.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, mimicking her words from earlier in the day.

Sakura's eyebrows arched a bit, but then her smiled widened. "I'm the Kazekage's _girl_. I can be wherever I want, whenever I want."

Snorting incredulously at her answer, he found himself grinning as his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't be so pretentious, kunoichi. It may cost you."

"Really?" she asked teasingly as she came closer. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she stepped into his embrace, lifting her face to kiss him on the lips.

Kissing her back with unusual gentleness, Gaara tightened his hold on her. After a few moments, Sakura pulled back just to bury her face in his neck, taking in his unique and masculine scent. They held each other as the sky darkened further, relishing in the presence and feel of the other.

"Hungry?" she asked from the vicinity of his throat a while later.

Gaara nodded in response. "And tired," he added as an afterthought.

"Let's go," she said, wriggling out of his arms. "I'll make you something." Taking his hand in hers, Sakura stepped forward in the direction of his apartment.

Staring down at their joined hands with a look of surprise, Gaara fell into step next to her. The feel of her fingers interlaced with his as they walked was strange to him, but not unpleasant. In all honesty, he _could_ get used to it. Even though there was no one to watch, this simple gesture let the world know about their relationship and how they belonged to each other. It reflected the strength of their bond.

Tentatively, Gaara squeezed her hand.

To his delight, Sakura responded in kind.

Feeling oddly lighthearted at this development, the red head continued to walk down the street contentedly.

The pink haired medic fought the urge to laugh at his antics. She'd been tuning in to his chakra flow since she felt his confusion when she grabbed his hand. Even though his face didn't betray even a fraction of his feelings, the Kazekage's flow was now akin to that of a happy 5 year old boy after having received a birthday present.

'It always amazes me to think of how badly mistreated he was as a child," she thought with regret. 'How this small contact makes him react is clear evidence of the neglect he suffered.'

But she refused to linger on the past; she couldn't change what had happened. The present was the important thing… to know that he was experiencing such simple pleasures at some point in his life managed to give her hope. He was now enjoying this kind of contact and the pink haired kunoichi promised she would help him experience _everything_ he had missed.

Squeezing his hand once more, Sakura turned her face up towards him, a smile on her lips.

He half grinned at her in return as they kept walking into the cold desert night.

* * *

Let me know what you think! 


	4. Captured

A/N: Here's the next installment! I really liked writing this one and it actually came out longer than what I had expected, since I just kept writing and writing and the damn thing didn't want to finish! Hehe.

Just so you know, this vignette will have a second part, which I'm already planning out. I'll be putting it up as soon as possible.

A **HUGE** thanks goes out to all of you who have reviewed! You have no idea how much your thoughts and opinions mean to me.

Here we go!

* * *

Her stupidity amazed her.

All the lessons, all the hard gained experience… it all amounted to nothing.

Hearing the voices of both Tsunade-sensei and Kakashi-sensei clearly in her head, reproaching her for making the most basic of mistakes, Sakura could do nothing but wallow in her foolishness. She had gotten sloppy and she would be the first one to admit it.

Her mind was completely alert, even though her body was not. The drugged dart had poured its poison into her system, causing her nerves and muscles to paralyze, leaving her completely numb and defenseless. Breathing became a great effort, since her abdomen felt like it was made of metal. If she had been a lower level ninja, the drug would have affected her brain cells as well. She'd always been proud of her chakra control and had successfully deterred the toxins from invading her brain before her body shut down completely. Not that it did her much good, though…

Here she was, trapped in a cell, her mind crystal clear while her body was as limp as a dead fish.

Sighing in resignation, Sakura analyzed her circumstances one more time. She had managed to recognize the drug on the dart and she knew its effects would last up to 15 hours, depending on the dose. Since the dart was small and she had managed to hold back some of its effects, the medic was sure there wasn't much of the drug in her system. So, she had around 6 to 8 hours of paralysis to look forward to. It had been around 2 hours since she had been unceremoniously dropped into the small cell.

The room was approximately 3 meters wide by 2 meters long; technically, her captors could have placed around 4 to 5 more people in the cell in the event of there being more prisoners. Since no one else had been placed there to keep her company, Sakura could conclude that no one else had been captured or that her whole medic team was dead.

The only entrance to the chamber was a thick steel door, which had a small barred opening on its lower half. She'd been arranged into a sitting position next to the door once they had let her fall on the floor. From her vantage point, with her head thrown back against the wall in an attempt to prevent her from choking on her own saliva, she couldn't see anything else but the ceiling. However, she could clearly hear her captors on the other side of the door.

They were a group of renegade shinobi from Suna which were operating within the boundaries of the Wind country. From what she knew, they had deserted the village when Gaara became Kazekage, not happy with the council's decision. They had laid low for a long time, but lately, they had dedicated their time to random terrorism acts, directed mostly towards merchant caravans, trying to boycott Suna's relations with neighboring villages. Knowing they weren't powerful enough to take the village directly, they had decided to circumvent it completely, taking a more roundabout approach.

In a nutshell, they were a thorn in Gaara's side and the Kazekage had finally decided to do something about it.

Organizing a few shinobi groups, he'd decided on terminating the group once and for all. Wanting to have an experienced medic on the assignment, Gaara had asked Sakura to be part of the mission. After gathering information about the renegades' possible hideouts, spies confirmed their location. Plans were set, strategies discussed and they went in for the kill.

There was a fierce battle outside the caves where the missing nins were hiding. Once the attack groups managed to force the enemy out, Sakura and her medics moved in, going over the battlefield, checking for survivors. As she bent over an enemy body, a small dart shot out from the corpse's clothes, hitting her directly in the neck. It was the _oldest_ trick in the book and she had fallen for it like a complete and utter amateur.

She didn't know if her group had fallen to similar fates or if they had fought their way out. All she was aware of was of someone lifting her up and taking her away. After what seemed like a short trip, they arrived at another cave complex, where she was deposited in a cell.

Hence, here she was, staring at the ceiling, listening to her kidnappers congratulate themselves on a job well done. From what she would hear, there were around 6 of them huddling outside. Unfortunately, from their comments, it was clear that they recognized her. Damn her pink hair!

They knew she was a leaf shinobi and the Hokage's disciple; they were already planning on asking for ransom. They would bypass Suna altogether and go straight to Konoha; this way, Suna's reputation would crumble and the alliance would be severely tested. However, they were omitting a small detail… the kunoichi in their grasp was none other than the Kazekage's _lover_.

Sakura could almost feel sorry for them… **almost**. In all honesty, she was actually feeling sorry for _herself_. The stupid shinobi outside would just die at Gaara's hands… it would be over in an instant and that would be that. Her case, however, was completely different; _she_ couldn't even hope for it to be quick. She was destined to face not only his anger, but his disappointment as well. For a moment, the pink haired medic wished she was unconscious so she wouldn't be able to think about the consequences of her stupidity.

A long time ago, she had promised herself that she wouldn't be a burden anymore… she wouldn't stare at the backs of her comrades while they went ahead and protected her. She would stand on her own two feet, fighting and defending herself by her own means. It was the least she could do. The Fifth's apprenticeship had come as a blessing and a day wouldn't go by without her thanking the universe for it. With the help of Tsunade-sensei, Sakura had learned to believe in herself and to trust in her own strength, something she had never managed to achieve with Naruto and Sasuke by her side. Everyone now told her she had reached her mentor's level and would one day come to surpass it.

But then she went ahead and got herself hit by a drugged dart.

Growling at her uselessness in her mind for the hundredth time, Sakura knew it was futile to torture herself further. She was here and nothing was going to change it. The best she could do was work with what she had. She couldn't count on Gaara or anyone else coming over and rescuing her; she would have to get out of here by herself.

Oh, how she was looking forward to blasting that steel door with her fist when the effects of the drug left her body. They would regret not tying her up.

She would be her own escape ticket… all she needed to do was wait patiently.

XXXXXXX

The door of his office burst open as one of his hunter nin captains walked in hurriedly. Kneeling before his desk, the man removed his bird mask.

"Kazekage-sama, I bring bad news," he exclaimed.

Gaara looked down at him in resignation. Why couldn't missions always go as planned? It was probable that some inexperienced chuunin had blown their cover… he knew he shouldn't have sent the younger ones…

"Sakura-san has been captured."

Silence.

"_**WHAT?"**_

Hell breaking lose wouldn't even come close.

XXXXXXX

Sakura heard it coming. At first it was a distant rumble, like the tremors of an approaching earthquake. The noise suddenly became louder and she was sure something big and angry was coming her way. There were nervous mumblings followed by some shouts of alarm outside her cell as the missing nins sprung into sudden action.

They shouldn't have bothered.

A deafening roar echoed throughout the whole cave and the agonizing screams of her captors could scarcely be heard above it. Thunderous crashes could be discerned and Sakura felt something heavy hit the outer wall of her cell… from the loud thud, she could only assume it was a body. Chaos and mayhem reigned outside the steel door and all she could do was stare at the ceiling until it was over. The deadly silence inside the small room only accentuated the confusion and commotion on the other side of the rock wall.

Even though it felt like ages for her, the whole ordeal was over relatively quickly. As the noise started to subside, Sakura managed to confirm her suspicions. In the middle of the upheaval, there was the thrumming of a deadly and angry chakra… and it was oh so familiar.

If she had retained her capacity to groan, she would have.

The steel door disappeared in the blink of an eye and the pink haired medic heard it land with a deafening crash on the other side of the cave. She felt his well-known tendrils of sand reach her, touching her everywhere, as if checking for injuries. Immediately, a looming shadow passed through the doorway and entered the cell.

Coming into her line of vision, Sakura saw his face plainly. He had the look of a madman… a look that had been etched in her memory from their younger days. But as he approached and saw her more clearly, his face softened fractionally; nevertheless the anger was still there.

Kneeling in front of her, he took her head in his hands and lowered her face.

Frantic jade met hazy emerald.

Sakura knew she was in _so much_ trouble.

XXXXXXX

He knew he wasn't thinking clearly but he didn't give a damn.

Breaking his office window with his sand, Gaara jumped straight through with his gourd already strapped to his back, the kneeling captain completely forgotten. He needed to get to were she was being held _fast_, he couldn't have anyone else slowing him down.

Reaching the outside of the village on his flying sand, he didn't stop as he lifted his arms to the sky.

The elders of the village had told him to use this technique _only_ in the case of an emergency, since the levels of destruction it might provoke were extremely high.

But the Kazekage knew this was the fastest way to travel and if this wasn't an emergency, he didn't know _what_ was!

'_Suna Arashi', _he whispered as he concentrated his chakra. The sand of the desert exploded into violent motion around him, coming his way as if trying to engulf him. But before the sand could reach his body, it started circling around him, going faster and faster by the second.

The guards on Suna's gates could only stare in awe, as it appeared that the entire desert's sand was consuming their Kazekage. A gigantic whirlwind formed around him, and as the sand picked up unbelievable momentum, it started swallowing up everything in its surroundings. If this thing got nearer, it would destroy the whole village in a matter of seconds.

But it started to move away into the desert at an amazing speed and in a blink of an eye, it was gone.

It the middle of the sandstorm of his creation, Gaara didn't even try to control his rising temper. Even at the high velocity with which he was traveling, it would take him more or less an hour to reach the caves his captain had mentioned. His shinobi were supposedly looking through the whole complex, trying to pinpoint the exact cave where Sakura was being held.

By the time he got there, they'd _better_ have discovered which one it was, or there would be **_hell_** to pay. He wouldn't tolerate incompetence in a moment like this.

As Gaara traveled through his realm, he silently prayed that he wouldn't come across a merchant caravan, since he didn't have the time to try and circumvent it. He was already going to take too long for his liking and he knew that the minutes would go by agonizingly slow… which would only help to raise his wrath to even higher levels.

Thoughts of an injured and maimed Sakura flashed through his mind. He could see her thrown on a rocky floor, bloodied and battered. He knew that something _bad_ must have happened… Sakura wouldn't get captured that easily. His girl could make her way through a solid stone wall with a single punch, for fuck's sake! Not many shinobi could stand up to her in a close fight and due to her amazing chakra control, she was basically immune to any type of genjutsu. This meant she had to have been immobilized in some way to be taken by the missing nins.

The Kazekage didn't like the images of a limp and powerless Sakura in the hands of an enemy shinobi **at all**. They could do _anything_ to her… break her bones, pull out her fingernails, punch her, stab her, cut her… and they could… they could…

…_rape _her.

Vision blurred by large patches of red, Gaara let out a raucous scream of utter wrath, which echoed throughout the whole landscape, making the desert rocks rumble in response. Shukaku shrieked in glee inside his mind, relishing in the destructive impulses the red head was emitting. The demon tanuki filled his thoughts with the bloody and tattered body parts of the missing nins flying through the air. For once, Gaara wholeheartedly agreed with the fiend's intentions.

Impossibly, the moving sandstorm increased its speed.

XXXXXXX

As Temari kneeled behind her ninja team outside the cave complex, she heard the distinctive rumble. They had been discussing the different strategies they might take to rescue Sakura, since they had already identified the cave. But their planning came to an end when the blond kunoichi looked out towards the desert and gave a loud sigh.

"Clear the area," she commanded, moving away from the rocks. "My little brother's coming."

The team looked out over the land, only to see an immense circling cloud of sand hastily coming their way.

The Kazekage had arrived.

Moving away quickly, they arranged themselves in rows behind Temari, saluting the approaching cyclone. Most of them broke into a nervous cold sweat, knowing that their very lives were on the line. There was nothing more horrifying than facing their enraged Kazekage and not many people had actually survived the experience. They could only hope that Sakura was alright, or else this would be the end of them all.

The whirlwind dissipated some distance away and Gaara emerged from the cloud, landing in a quick walk on the ground, his sand following swiftly behind him. As he approached Temari, he didn't stop walking, addressing her over his shoulder as he went by.

"Which one is it?" he asked brusquely.

"The one to the north east," she replied, not daring to look up at him.

Increasing his pace, Gaara made his way towards the large gathering of protruding rocks on the barren hillside. Beneath one of the ledges, he found the opening of the cave Temari had mentioned. He sent his sand in ahead of him as he entered, checking for any possible sentinels. Much to his surprise, he found none and the stupidity of this renegade group amazed him once more.

They were stupid for not taking the necessary precautions to avoid being ambushed and they were all the more brainless for daring to touch what was _his_.

But then again, this would be the _last_ stupid mistake they would ever make.

After walking a couple of minutes through the dark corridor, Gaara found the reason why there weren't any look outs. A thick and large steel door blocked his path, preventing him from going any further into the cave. It seemed that the idiots thought this barrier would thwart any in-coming invaders…

Evidently, the dimwits weren't expecting the Kazekage to come pay them a personal visit.

He was going to enjoy killing them **_so_** much.

Not bothering to send his sand under the door to investigate, he brought the tendrils up before him, wrapping them around the huge door. He knew this would alert the nins inside, but he truly didn't give a shit. Let them know he was coming… let them know who it was that came to exterminate them inside their very own rat lair.

The noise the door made when it flew off its hinges was deafening and immediately, a small version of his 'Suna Arashi' rammed inside the cave, confusing and baffling the people inside.

Visibility was reduced to nil, but as Gaara stepped inside, he knew exactly where each renegade nin was thanks to his sand... he also knew that Sakura wasn't in the room. Good, he didn't need to control himself then.

He sensed a flying kunai coming in his direction, but it was _very_ easily deflected. The Kazekage was now convinced that this rebel group had the combined brain power of a desert rodent… which only helped to increase his wrath even more.

There were only 6 shinobi in the room and he made quick work of them. Wrapping two completely surprised victims with his sand, he lifted them up towards the ceiling. Their screams echoed through the air as a millisecond later, the deadly grip of his 'Sabaku Sousou' silenced them forever, making their blood rain down onto the circling sand, bathing Suna's leader in crimson.

Shukaku laughed in delight with the gory scene Gaara was creating.

Feeling movement to his left, Gaara sensed as a nin tried to attack him straight on, lunging forward with a katana in hand. His idiotic bravery wasn't worth the effort. The sand stopped him dead in his tracks, making him release the blade by gripping his wrist forcefully. A tendril picked up the sword on the red head's order and pierced him through the heart with his own weapon, a dying yell on his lips.

With the screams of their companions, the remaining three ninjas decided it was time to retreat, but there was only one entrance to the cave. As they made their way towards the exit, they made a vain attempt to circumvent their enemy. One was inevitably wrapped in sand, his neck broken with a loud crack a moment later. Another was thrown back against the wall with intense violence, his spine broken with the force of the blow.

In a remarkable act of self control, Gaara managed to subdue his anger momentarily as his sand picked up the remaining shinobi. He broke the man's ribs with his 'Sabaku Kyuu' but refrained from taking his life. They needed to interrogate at least one of the renegades to make sure that the whole group had been completely eradicated. Gaara would have slaughtered the ninja in a heartbeat but as Kazekage, he knew he had an obligation to his village.

As the unconscious shinobi dropped to the floor with a thud, the red head brought his raging sand to a stop, making most of it recede into his gourd. He looked around the cave, trying to discern where Sakura was. Spotting another steel door at the back, he could vaguely sense a familiar chakra coming from beyond. The chakra felt extremely weak, a mocking flow compared to the energy she usually radiated.

Abruptly, the anger was replaced by something else... by something equally intense.

Ripping the door with his sand as he moved quickly towards the back, Gaara's heart contracted with, what was to him, an unfamiliar emotion…

_Fear_.

He was scared shitless of what he might find… scared that he might have arrived too late… scared that he might have already lost her…

In those seven seconds it took to cross the room, Sabaku no Gaara experienced _dread_ for the first time in his life.

As he reached the doorway, he saw her… sitting with her back to the wall, face turned upwards, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. She was dirty and disheveled, the lustrous shade of her hair all but gone under the grime.

As Gaara came near, Sakura didn't move.

His heart clenched painfully for the second time in the span of half a minute.

Kneeling down in front of her, the Kazekage took her face in his hands, lowering her head carefully. The empty emerald stare which met his gaze did nothing to kindle his hope.

"Sakura," he whispered in the oppressing silence of the room.

No answer.

Gritting his teeth in agonizing torment, the red head placed his fingers on her neck, checking for a pulse. Miraculously, a steady but weak rhythm reverberated through her skin.

She was alive… but what the _fuck_ was wrong with her? He mentally berated himself for not showing more interest in her work. If he'd paid more attention to her medical rambles, he might've known what to do in the situation he found himself in.

Her skin was ice cold and as he partially lifted one of her hands with his own, her limb fell limply to the floor once he let go of her. Staring at her for a few minutes as he pondered about her condition, Gaara's anger reasserted himself.

He wasn't about to lose her to some idiotic, third-class missing nin group. **_No one_** in this world would ever take her away from him. No one.

Lifting her up bridal style in a single fluid movement, the red head made his way towards the exit. In all honesty, the only person to which he would have entrusted her health to was… well, _herself_. But given the circumstances, he knew he was going to have to compromise. Tsunade was the obvious second choice, but she was simply too far away. Therefore, Gaara would have to place his trust in his own medics, something he wasn't too eager to do… he had hired Sakura to instruct them for a reason, after all. Suna's medics hadn't been able to save the Kazekage's brother in a case of dire emergency, so, intense training had been called for.

Now, Gaara was going to place the life of the most important person in his life in their hands. Strengthening his resolve, he reminded himself that by doing so, he was actually trusting _her_ own skills as a sensei and if he couldn't trust her, he couldn't trust anyone.

Walking swiftly out of the cave, he headed in the direction of his shinobi team, intent on getting some answers.

XXXXXXX

Sakura could see him amazingly clearly. She could see the blood of his enemies smeared over his cheek, splattered all over his clothes. She could see the anguish in his face, the turmoil showing through his maddened gaze.

And she could do nothing to ease his pain.

'Gaara, I'm ok!' she mentally screamed at him.

'Don't worry, I'll be fine. The effect goes away after a while! I'm ok! You won't feel anything too promising since the drug lowers the body's cardiac levels,' she told him when he lifted his hand to check her pulse.

Heart shattering at the look of distress crossing his features, the pink haired medic screamed inside her mind, cursing her carelessness for the umpteenth time that day. He stared at her for what seemed like an eternity, until a familiar spark of stubbornness and anger showed through his eyes.

'That's it! No worrying! Yes, get angry, get angry!' she exclaimed as he picked her up, preferring for him to be angry at her than miserable at her condition. They walked for a few minutes until they emerged into clear daylight.

Gaara made his way quickly towards his shinobi, who were still standing in formation behind Temari, waiting for him.

As he came near them, shocked murmurs resounded all around at the limp condition of the woman he was holding. Ignoring the whispers, the red head spotted the medical team and headed directly towards them.

Standing with Sakura firmly in his arms, the Kazekage stopped in front of Naoko and Rinji.

"What is wrong with her?" he asked, forcing his voice to come out evenly even though his furious eyes betrayed his supposed calm.

The two chuunins swallowed visibly before coming closer to inspect their sensei.

Rinji reached out, as if trying to take Sakura from Gaara's arms. The red head stopped him with a single deadly look, letting him know in no small terms that if he touched Sakura, he would lose his limbs before he even reached her.

The medic-in-training stepped back, all blood leaving his face.

Naoko intervened on his behalf. "Kazekage-sama, we need you to put her down so we can examine her," she pleaded.

Turning his fuming gaze towards her, he nodded in understanding, swallowing his anger for Sakura's sake.

'Gaara, this is _not_ the time to have a jealously attack!' Sakura screamed inside her mind.

Looking around for a spot, he found one nearby. He lowered her into a sitting position, her back against a large rock.

Naoko was immediately over her, examining her body using chakra. Rinji kneeled on her other side, fear of his Kazekage forgotten in view of his sensei's condition. He took Sakura's face in his hands, examining her eyes.

'Come on guys,' Sakura thought. 'This one should be easy for you. We covered paralyzing drugs ages ago!'

As she egged them own, she refused to think about the low blow her pride was suffering from this whole scenario.

After a few minutes of intense examination, both Naoko and Rinji sat back from Sakura, staring at each other.

"Well?" Gaara asked angrily, patience completely exhausted.

"Cursis juice," Naoko said, completely sure of her diagnosis.

'That's my girl!' Sakura exclaimed. 'You can have next week off just for that!'

"And that means?" Gaara asked curtly.

'It means I will be as limp as a rag for around four more hours and then I'll be in tip-top shape,' she answered inside her head.

"She'll be paralyzed for a few more hours, depending on the dose. But after that, her body will come back to normal and there won't be any side effects," Naoko replied.

"And from what I can see," Rinji added, "she's actually completely conscious."

"What?" Gaara exclaimed, kneeling down in front of Sakura, looking at her intently.

"She must have fought the effects of the drug with her chakra, which is in fact, an amazing feat. Its effects are instant, meaning she managed to prevent it from reaching her brain milliseconds after she was hit," the trainee added.

'Ha! And you know it!' the pink haired medic thought. 'Ten extra points for you on your next quiz boy, for making your sensei feel a little bit better.'

The Kazekage stared at Sakura, concern in his gaze. "Is there an antidote for this drug?"

"Yes there is," Naoko replied, "but we would have to make it back at the village. It's simple to make but by the time we arrive and get all the necessary ingredients together, the effects of the drug will be long gone."

Gaara nodded in understanding, but he wasn't happy with the news. The last thing he wanted was to have his lover in a comatose state for the next few hours while he sat, useless and impotent, waiting for the effects of the substance to dissipate. But it seemed there was nothing he could do about it.

Without a word, he stood up, taking Sakura in his arms once more.

"I'm going back to the village," he informed them. "Make sure you have a ready dose of that antidote in 48 hours. I want all medic teams to have some for upcoming missions. An episode like this will not happen again."

"Yes, Kazekage-sama", Rinji and Naoko answered at the same time, bowing before their leader.

Gaara made his way over to the other shinobi teams. As he arrived, Temari spoke to him.

"Kazekage-sama, we tried…" she started, but the red head interrupted.

"We will speak of this later," he told her, a cold tone in his voice.

'This is _not_ Temari's fault, you dimwit! It's mine!' Sakura shouted at him from inside her mind.

"I left a missing nin alive for interrogation. Go back into the cave and search it, see if you can find any clues or leadings to other hideouts. Once you are done report to me immediately."

"Yes, Kazekage-sama!" the whole shinobi group answered in chorus, exploding into action immediately, Temari included.

When they were gone, Gaara looked down at the woman in his arms, looking into her still hazy gaze. He knew she was conscious and he wanted very badly to give her a piece of his mind for making him worry like this. But he also knew he wouldn't be able to do it until he heard her side of the tale… not until the whole situation was laid out clearly.

In truth, the only thing he cared about was having her safe in his embrace. To know that her life wasn't in danger and she wasn't going anywhere.

Calling on his sand, he settled down cross-legged on the small cloud it formed. Settling Sakura safely on his lap for the journey back to the village, he ordered his sand to move, flying away into the desert landscape.

XXXXXXX

'Ceilings aren't really that bad once you get used to them,' Sakura thought morbidly as she lay on their bed, her head on a large pillow.

They'd arrived at Suna around an hour and a half ago, but the effects of the drug still weren't leaving her body. If her calculations didn't fail her, Sakura surmised she still had around 30 more minutes to go.

At the moment, she could hear Gaara rummaging around in the kitchen. After placing her on the bed and making sure she was comfortable, he had sat down on the mattress next to her, arms and legs crossed. From the stubborn set of his jaw, she knew he was going to stay there and wait until her paralysis left her. Groaning inwardly, Sakura really wasn't looking forward to have him stare at her in complete silence until it was all over. Luckily, she had been saved by a knock on the front door after only 10 minutes of torture.

It must have been one of his captains coming to report, since she could hear their murmurs in the living room. After some time, the shinobi had left and from what she could hear, it seemed like the Kazekage was looking for something to eat.

Gulping down two full glasses of water after eating some fruit, Gaara felt slightly better. He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and night was already quickly approaching. Still, the satisfaction in his stomach didn't spread through the rest of his body.

He was tense… extremely tense. And the anxiety in his muscles wouldn't leave until she was safely moving and talking to him. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he growled in irritation. How long was this _freaking_ drug going to take to get out of her system? He'd already waited long enough and his meager patience had already vanished into thin air.

If Sakura didn't move soon, he was going to _destroy_ something.

Going back into the bedroom, he sat back down next to her, looking her over for what seemed the six hundredth time. There was no change whatsoever; she still stared blankly at the ceiling.

Shaking her roughly until she reacted wasn't going to solve the problem, but he was extremely tempted to do so. He had infinitely more patience than he usually did when it came to Sakura, but this was just too much. This whole situation pushed his limits to unimaginable levels.

Cracking his neck in a rough movement, the Kazekage decided that meditation was in order. It was his equivalent to 'taking a nap'. He needed some time out from this whole situation and meditating would help him achieve that goal. This way, he would be able to face the current problem with a fresh start.

Closing his eyes, he settled into a more comfortable sitting position while his mind drifted away.

This was the reason why he didn't catch the sudden blink of Sakura's eyes.

'YES!' the pink haired kunoichi exclaimed inside her mind.

Feeling was slowly returning to her face and after what seemed like an eternity, she could finally move her eyes around.

Her emerald orbs settled on the imposing figure of Suna's leader as he meditated, sitting cross legged on the mattress close by.

Sakura contemplated the idea of regaining her body's movement before he came back from 'dreamland' and making a dash for the door. She could see herself running at full speed back to Konoha, a giant wave of sand chasing her every step of the way.

Sighing inwardly, she resigned herself for the upcoming confrontation once and for all. It was inevitable and she had already organized the precise order of the words she was going to say.

But first thing's first.

Blinking her eyes in rapid succession, she attempted to wrinkle her nose at the same time. It moved only slightly. This was going to be an excruciatingly slow process, but she had all the time in the world.

After another ten minutes, she could already wrinkle her forehead, her nose and was beginning to move her mouth. Opening her lips slowly as feeling returned to her, she could feel them crack open with the movement. The taste of blood was suddenly on her tongue, her mouth completely dry.

'This has got to be the worst experience of my life,' Sakura thought morosely.

_Well, I can think of some worse ones_, her inner persona chirped in, _like being trapped under a giant claw of sand while being knocked against a tree and suffocating in the process while your team mates fight for their lives…_

'I refuse to even think about that!' Sakura thought vehemently. 'He was unstable and under the influence of a demon! This is difficult enough already without you bringing this up.'

Inner Sakura rolled her eyes but remained silent.

Returning to the task at hand with a vengeance, the pink haired medic forced her whole face to move and at the same time, managed to make her tongue budge slightly. After another few minutes, she was able to stick it out of her mouth and rotate it all around.

Which brought her to another predicament… she was now able to talk.

So, should she wait until she was able to move completely and defend herself or should she put him out of his misery now?

If she was in his shoes, worried sick over him without knowing exactly what was happening to him, Sakura knew what she would want.

Taking in a large breath, she let the words come out.

"I'm very sorry Gaara, I was extremely careless."

Eyes flying open at the sound of her voice, the red head found her emerald orbs staring directly at him. They were clear, focused… and as beautiful as he remembered them.

Reaching for her in a rapid movement, he cradled her in his arms.

"Are you alright? Do you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm ok…"

"Where did you get hit? Did the bastards hurt you?"

"No, I'm…"

"Did they _touch_ you anywhere?"

"Gaara, I'm alright!" she shouted at him, making herself heard through his tirade.

He blinked for a moment as he looked at her. Without warning, he crushed her to his chest, holding on to her tightly.

"Don't **ever** do that again," he whispered fiercely in her ear.

Sakura sighed, keeping quiet. She knew it was useless to argue with him at a moment like this.

Holding on to her silently for a few minutes, Gaara finally loosened his hold on her, just enough for him to look at her face directly.

"What the _fuck_ happened?"

With a look of intense resignation, Sakura started talking.

"There isn't much to tell. I was extremely careless, Gaara, that about sums it all up. I was going over the bodies after the main battle had ended and I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. The dart that hit me was hidden in the vest of an enemy nin. Once I got hit, there wasn't much I could do about it.

"I'm really sorry I made you worry and I'm sorry I forced Temari and her team to go out of their way to look for me… And I'm sorry I made you come rescue me. I should have been able to take care of myself. I shouldn't be a burden to anyone."

As she told him all this, the pink haired medic finally realized what a low blow this whole experience had been to her pride. Haruno Sakura, apprentice to the great Godaime, said to follow in her sensei's footsteps… taken down by the most basic trick a ninja could pull… and a _dead_ ninja, at that. It felt to her that she had traveled back in time, when she would have died many times if Naruto and Sasuke hadn't come to her rescue.

Her self-confidence was utterly and completely devastated.

Feeling tears start to build behind her eyes, she hardened her resolve, refusing to cry about this in front of Gaara. He was probably already appalled by her weakness, so she wouldn't give him even more reasons to do so.

She felt so disappointed with herself.

A retort dying on his lips, Gaara stopped himself when he got a good look of her face. Her mouth was set in a strange expression and she refused to look him straight in the eye.

She looked apologetic, but there was something else behind her eyes… something he just couldn't place.

"You are **not** a burden," he stated firmly. She looked up at him, emerald orbs softening for a moment, but that strange look wasn't completely gone.

Cursing his lack of experience in relating to other people, the red head decided to let this slide for the time being. If there was something she wanted to say, she would say it when she was ready. Despite all the anger he had been building up all day, he found that his temper had lessened considerably when she started talking to him.

Sakura was safe and in his care. All he wanted now was to have her sleeping in his arms for the rest of the night… and he _was_ going to get what he wanted.

"Is the paralysis getting better?" he asked.

Looking up at him at the unexpected question, Sakura didn't know what to answer. She had been preparing herself for a direct verbal attack, not for him to show any concern about her condition. Where _was_ her explosive and temperamental lover?

Once more, Sakura was taken aback by his complete unpredictability. He wasn't pushing her, so for both their sakes, she buried her feelings of guilt and unworthiness as best as she could, knowing they would eventually resurface. But for now, it was enough.

"It's getting better," she finally answered. "I think I can move my neck now."

She succeeded in moving her head from side to side.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Gaara asked, having had enough of sitting idly next to her.

"Well, increasing the blood flow of my extremities would help, so a massage might come in handy."

He didn't need to be told twice. Gently, he laid her down on the mattress facing down and proceeded to give her a thorough massage. Starting with her shoulders and neck, he slowly advanced down her arms. He gave her back special attention, especially when he felt her muscles twitch in response.

If she had been in any other circumstance, Sakura would have closed her eyes and let herself enjoy his attentions. However, her body was still partially numb and when feeling returned slowly to her limbs, it caused an intense sensation of 'pins and needles' which wasn't at all pleasant.

This _definitely_ wasn't her day.

Gaara stopped his massage only when he had reached her feet. Around 30 minutes had passed since he'd started and when he moved away, Sakura managed to lift herself up into a sitting position.

Her legs hanging from the side of the bed, she started lifting them up experimentally, as if trying to judge how much movement she was able to exert. She did the same with her arms, lifting and bending them, trying to force them into working normally.

Silently watching as she went about this whole procedure, Gaara admired the look of determination in her eyes. He knew she was surely in some kind of pain, but she didn't even complain once. Looking at her state, his anger rekindled at the thought of what the fucking missing nins had done to his girl. He regretted not killing them more slowly.

Standing up carefully, Sakura managed to walk across the room, Gaara appearing lightning quick at her side once he saw she was standing. After around ten minutes of tentative pacing, she finally recovered her sense of balance and was able to walk normally. Flopping down on the bed once more as she realized how much the simple exercise had exhausted her, she felt the beginnings of a head ache in her left temple. Groaning, she started massaging her head.

"What's wrong?" the red head asked in concern.

"I'm starting to get a headache…"

Patience utterly exhausted from the frustration he'd been experiencing all day, the Kazekage took matters into his own hands.

"You need some rest and are probably dehydrated," he stated in an authoritative voice, leaving absolutely no space for arguments. "Get into the bathroom and give yourself a quick shower. I will bring you something to drink and I'll make you some of the 'migraine tea' which you keep stashed in the cupboard."

And with that, he took her by the arm and led her towards the bathroom. Once inside, he placed a towel into her hands before turning around and walking out the door.

"Gaara, please remember…"

"Yes I know", he replied over his shoulder, "one teaspoon of honey instead of sugar or else you won't be able to keep it down since the tea is too bitter for you."

Sakura had to smile at that, tears building in her eyes once more. Despite his gruffness, he really paid attention to her and knew her better than anyone else. Small details like this one were the ones that counted, small ways in which he showed his appreciation. Despite the mess she had dragged both of them into, Gaara still went out of his way to please her.

As she climbed into the shower, Sakura felt completely undeserving of his attentions.

Once she was sitting on the bed, with a comfy boxer and a tank top on, the red head made her drink three full glasses of water and a cup of her medicinal tea. He'd brought her a bit of fruit as well and the pink haired kunoichi managed to eat three quarters of an apple before her stomach churned in protest.

"Time to sleep", he told her in his Kazekage voice. Finding she was too tired to complain, she did what she was told as Gaara went into the bathroom to give himself a quick wash.

Laying on her back and looking up at the ceiling once more, Sakura knew sleep was far from coming, despite the tiredness in her body. She was emotionally battered and her heart ached when she thought of how much she had let him down.

Coming out of the bathroom, hair wet and only with his sleeping trousers on, Gaara made his way hurriedly to the bed. He lay face up next to her and when she made no move to come closer, he reached for her, pulling her to him until her cheek was resting on his chest.

The red head closed his eyes, relishing in the feel of her body in his arms… in the warmth, and most importantly, in the life thrumming through her being. He had come too close to losing her today, and by the life of him, he was _never_ going to let something like this happen again. Never.

He broke the reigning silence with an intense tone in his voice.

"I'm glad you are safe."

It was an extremely simple phrase… and if it were coming from anyone else, it would have been a casual statement; an affirmation with nothing behind it.

But it wasn't coming from anyone else… it was coming from _him_. And that made all the difference.

In those few words, he was expressing his relief, letting her know he wasn't judging her… letting her know how much he had worried about her… letting her know how much he loved her.

Burying her face into his chest, Sakura nodded fiercely, not trusting her voice. He returned her gesture by tightening his hold on her. He had never been a man of words, but with his pink haired woman, there wasn't any need to say anything. With a simple phrase and a simple gesture, they understood each other completely.

Sleep and exhaustion washed over Sakura as she lay there, safe in his embrace. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she still thought of how she didn't deserve all this and in her chest, her heart still hurt. But all this was lost in a wave of darkness and the only thing she could sense was the beating of Gaara's heart under her ear, protecting her from her inner doubts and fears. He would guard her, shielding her from harm… even if it meant he needed to shield her from herself.

Hence, she drew on his strength, on his presence, losing herself in the flow of his potent chakra, banishing everything else.

Tomorrow would be another day… but for now, Haruno Sakura would sleep safely in the arms of her lover, one of the most powerful shinobi in the world.

* * *

There you have it! This did come out a little long… oh well, hope you liked it anyway! I'll be putting up the second part to this soon.

Read and review!


	5. Confidence

**A/N: **Here's the second part to this little section of my one-shots. You have no idea how much I enjoyed writing this. I sat down and the ideas just came to me, so the whole thing just wrote itself and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I really hope you like it too!

This one goes out to MitsukiShiroi and Misaki Fujiwara, whose support has spurred me to give the best of myself in my writing. THANKS!

* * *

_Summary:_ After the usual blunders, Gaara helps Sakura overcome her lack of confidence… and in return, she inadvertently teaches him a whole new concept of girl power.

* * *

The way she was behaving was getting on his nerves. It was disconcerting, to say the least, to see her go through every day living with a look of utter defeat on her pretty face.

Watching Sakura walk down the street while hiding behind a food stand, Gaara paid attention to her every single move, to her every single gesture. He knew he could easily be labelled as a stalker, but he really didn't care. Desperate times called for desperate measures and at the moment, the Kazekage was willing to try anything.

It had been a week since Sakura's untimely 'rescue' and the kunoichi had seemingly fallen into a bout of extreme depression. For the first few days, she had completed avoided her teaching responsibilities, hiding under the pretence of 'recovery', just so she could lay on the living room couch all day, looking like it was the end of the world. After much of Gaara's prompting, she finally took up her classes again, but she didn't seem to enjoy them or look forward to them _at all_.

Worried about his girl's health, the Kazekage had gone around asking her students how she was behaving. He wasn't surprised in the least when they told him that she hid behind her books all day; their sensei would just take a out a book, point out the procedure they were going over and made them take notes directly from the tome. She wasn't giving them any actual practices and whenever someone asked a question, Sakura would always verify the answer in some scroll or other before saying anything.

"It's as if she's lost all belief in herself, Kazekage-sama," one of the young chuunins told him, a worried tone in her voice. "Is she alright?"

"She will be", Gaara had replied impatiently, tired of his lover's antics. He had given her time to open up to him, to tell him what was happening, but she had refused. Whenever he tried to mention the subject, she always found a way to evade it and she never made any attempts to bring it up herself either. So, it was time to take matters into his own hands and talk some sense into that pink head of hers.

Which had promptly led to this morning's confrontation…

"What is _wrong_ with you?" he asked angrily when she appeared in the kitchen, face pale and hollow, green eyes rimmed with red. He had tolerated her fits of depression for as long as possible.

"There's nothing wrong," she replied defensively.

"Don't bullshit me! I've seen you walk around looking like you have nothing left in this world. You don't smile anymore, you barely eat… you don't even teach your classes properly!"

"I do to!" she replied. "There's nothing wrong with my classes!"

"Well, that's not what you're students tell me…"

"What did they tell you?" she asked, her temper starting to kick in. "And what I do in my classes is _none_ of your business!"

"None of my business? Who was it who asked you to come to Suna in the first place? What happens in my village is _always_ my business, especially when things aren't getting done right."

"Well excuse me, oh mighty and powerful one! I'm sorry I don't meet your freaking expectations! If your medical team had been just a little bit competent, I _wouldn't_ have needed to come here at all!"

"I knew they weren't competent, that's why I asked for you help!" the volume of Gaara's voice was already reaching dangerous levels.

"Then stop complaining about the way I teach my classes! Stop butting your nose where it's not wanted and stop acting as if you knew what I'm going through!"

"I **don't** know what you're going through, that's why I fucking asked!"

"Of course you don't know! You've never made a mistake in your freaking life! You've always been this all-powerful and efficient shinobi! You don't know what it's like to live with your blunders and to be tormented with your stupidity! You've never watched as your team mates progressed faster than you and left you behind. You've never had to fight to gain anyone's respect!"

"Don't you to talk to **me** about gaining other people's respect, damn it!" By then, the populace walking on the street outside hastily evacuated the premises. "And if you do make mistakes, them you learn from them and keep walking, you don't mope around like it's the end of your life!"

"How would you know what it's like to pick yourself up, huh? Do you think it's easy? It's all like a walk in the park for you right, almighty Kazekage?"

"Don't call me that!"

"Well it seems you _are_ almighty since you've never had to eat your mistakes in your life!"

"And what about you? You're the Godaime's apprentice. You're the second most powerful medic nin in the world! But here you are wallowing in self-pity and wasting away like if you were a third class kunoichi! If anyone would know how to pick themselves up, it would be **you**!"

A deadly silence was the only answer to his shouting.

Sakura was looking down at the floor, eyes closed and fists trembling at her sides. Temper still flying, Gaara breathed heavily as he waited for her to respond to his retort.

But it wasn't at all what he expected.

Looking up at him suddenly, emerald eyes reflecting all her inner pain as tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

"Gaara, you're just a big, insensitive jerk," she whispered fiercely before running towards the door and escaping to the street outside.

Rooted to the spot, the red head couldn't find the heart to go after her. He had planned to help her by talking to her, but in the end, he had only destroyed her further with his words.

"**FUCK!**" he shouted to no one in particular as his sand thrummed in response, his temper now directed towards himself. How could he have been so careless! But he also realized that both of them needed time to cool off before they met again, or else they would really end up at each other's throats.

Throughout the day, he tried to concentrate on his work, but it was just not possible. Images of her tear-stricken face and sad eyes crossed his mind every three seconds and it broke his heart every single time.

Not even making an attempt to fight his lack of concentration, he focused instead on the words she'd shouted at him, trying to discern the meaning behind them. As ironic as it was, their fight had been the closest he'd gotten her to talk about her issues and he was desperate for information.

It was clear that Sakura thought that she had made a mistake. It was also clearly related to her 'kidnapping' incident. Therefore, it was safe to conclude that she thought less of herself for all that had happened and was having problems overcoming the incident. To him it didn't make sense at all, since even the greatest of shinobi committed such errors and no one thought less of them for it. Like when the Sandaime had refrained from killing Orochimaru when he had the chance… or when Gaara's father had attempted to kill his own son, sacrificing many lives in the process. Ironically enough, their people hadn't thought less of them and _those_ had been huge mistakes. So why was Sakura worried about such a small error which could be easily be discarded and learned from?

There was clearly something _else_ mixed up in this whole issue.

Luckily, he had a clue. His depressive pink haired girl had mentioned something concerning her team mates; "watching as they left her behind" or something close to that. Putting the wheels of his memory to good use, Gaara forced himself to remember a time he would have given his life to forget… his first chuunin exam. Between the blood lust he had felt and the need to prove his existence, he recalled his fight with Naruto with amazing clarity. Life-changing experiences weren't easily forgotten, after all.

He also remembered, not without some guilt, how he had formerly tried to kill his present lover… but that was not the point of the exercise at the moment. Uzumaki and Uchiha had been her team mates, and they had fought with their very lives to try and save her.

Sakura _was_ Naruto's "special person" and it was this concept that had awakened Gaara from his lonely darkness. However, he had always thought this was a positive thing, since Sakura was clearly shown how much she was loved and appreciated through these type of actions… he would've never thought it could be seen from a negative point of view, but apparently it _was_ possible.

While she was on her way to becoming the amazing medic nin she was now, Sakura had to fight her way next to Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke… who had both been prodigies in their own way. Admittedly, it may have been a tough start, since competing against those two couldn't have been easy, but it was nothing she didn't eventually overcome. But somehow, memories of those times were still engraved inside her mind, and whenever she screwed up… whenever she _thought_ she screwed up… she would replay similar scenes in her mind and wouldn't be able to live with herself.

This was what was happening now and the fact that Gaara had repeated the pattern by going out there and rescuing her didn't help one little bit.

Growling as he buried his face in his hands, the red head wondered if it had been better if he had left her to fend for herself in that dark cell.

No, that would not have been right. Sakura needed to accept that there were people who cared for her immensely and whenever she happened to be in trouble, these people would react. It had _nothing_ to do with her being useful or not. He would always be there in an instant if she was in need and it was something she was going to have to live with it.

Now, the problem consisted in helping her dispel those inner doubts of hers and to make her realize that her past didn't need to affect her present. Sakura's past had made her the ninja she was today, but it did not define her life. She had gone out into the world, cutting her own path through the adversities she had faced and bringing down anyone who opposed her with her own fists.

Haruno Sakura did _not_ walk in anyone's shadow.

Sighing in frustration, Gaara leaned back in his armchair, looking out the window of his office. This was all so freaking complicated it was tearing his mind apart. But he wasn't one to complain… if Sakura was asked to try and understand the workings of _his_ mind, he knew she would have lost her sanity long ago.

He would have to see this through as best as he could. This was his _girl_, the woman he was sharing his life with. He wanted to help her as best as he could with whatever she needed because she had always been there for him.

It was the least he could do after his mayor fuck up this morning…

Not wanting to dwell on how badly he had handled the situation, he decided it was time to get up and do something. It was already early afternoon and he had given Sakura plenty of time to cool off.

Hence, Gaara found himself hiding like a criminal behind a stand on the street in the attempts to figure out the best way to approach his lover. The last thing he wanted was to have another blown-out verbal onslaught in the middle of a public walkway.

The truth was, he really had no clue as to how he was going to handle the situation and he was hoping that some spark of inspiration would hit him eventually. Talking to Sakura wasn't going to work; he had never been good at expressing his thoughts and words always failed him when he needed them the most. Therefore, another plan was called for… he just didn't know _what_.

So, the Kazekage had decided on stalking his lover until an opportunity presented itself.

The more he watched her, the more his heart clenched with the need to approach her and hold her. She walked around the streets of Suna without any real destination, her eyes on the ground, shoulders slumped… the pain reflected on her face was utterly heart wrenching.

Following after her for a few more minutes, Gaara saw her making her way into one of the many training grounds surrounding the village's shinobi academy. Hidden from view by surrounding buildings, it was safe from the unwanted eyes of any passer bys.

Sakura moved to the centre of the grounds and stood there looking up at the desert sky for a while.

After what seemed an eternity to Gaara, she finally moved and started stretching.

She was going to fight off her depression with a bit of exercise? This was something the red head could completely relate to.

As he watched her go through some routine stretches an idea came rushing into his mind. If he thought about it carefully, it actually bordered on insanity but he was willing to try anything to get his lively and energetic Sakura back.

Without allowing himself time to reconsider the idea, Gaara walked straight into the open, his goal etched clearly in his mind.

XXXXXXX

His words had hurt terribly… and they had hurt because they echoed the exact thoughts which had been going through her head for a whole week. It was one thing to belittle yourself, but it was completely different when you heard it from someone else… especially from the person you loved the most.

Sakura walked aimlessly through the streets, not caring what the people around her thought, tears falling from her chin to the ground every so often. After running from the apartment, she had run for the village's gates, finding a small niche under the surrounding walls. After crying her heart out for a whole hour, Sakura managed to control herself enough to realize that she hadn't eaten breakfast. Stomach churning, she had finally gathered the courage to head back to the apartment, knowing that Gaara would have left for work ages ago.

She ate very little, but it was enough to keep her going. Refusing to stay in _his_ home longer than was necessary, she went out and started walking. After a few minutes, her heart finally went numb and her mind went completely blank. There was an advantage to not feeling or thinking… it actually allowed her to rest from her inner torment.

But somewhere behind the blankness, she could hear the attempts of her inner persona trying to dissipate her mood.

_You're making too much of a big deal out of this whole thing!_

'No, I'm not. It really **is** a big deal for me!'

_You've been moping around for a whole week! Don't you think it's time we got back up?_

'I was on my way to recovery until that jerk had to ruin it for me.'

_He _was_ trying to help, you know._

'Yeah sure, he should open a therapy group since he's so good at it!'

_Well, if you want my opinion…_

'I don't recall asking for it.'

_...you're just repeating the patterns you'd promised you would never live again. This whole sulking thing is just like the old you, when you would cry for days just because Sasuke didn't notice you…_

'It is **not**! This is completely different. This has got to do with the fact that my abilities as a ninja are completely useless.'

_**That** is complete bullshit, and you know it. If it were true, how would have you gotten to where you are today?_

And with that, her inner voice went quiet.

Shaking her head slightly as if waking from a daze, Sakura looked up at her surroundings. Without noticing, she had walked straight into one of Suna's training grounds. Lifting her face to the sky, she let the moist trails of her tears dry with the sun.

'And where exactly am I?' she thought, contemplating the last words her inner persona had thrown at her.

Unbidden, images of her life came rushing through her head. She saw herself entering the shinobi academy back in Konoha, Ino always by her side. She saw herself grow up as she joined her team with Naruto and Sasuke… she saw all the instances when they were forced to help her, but she also managed to see all the moments in which she had prevailed over them. Neither of them could match her chakra control and her brain was always three steps ahead.

She clearly saw when Sasuke left and when she asked Tsunade-sama to take her on as her apprentice. The Godaime had promised she wouldn't go easy on her but it was in that moment that she had been given the opportunity to shine… and shine she did. She remembered all her harsh trainings, and even from the start, she took to the arts of a medic like a duck to water. She remembered all the lives she had saved and how she had flown through her chuunin exam, taking her jounin exam afterwards in record timing.

She remembered Naruto's face when he had come back from his training with Jiraiya-sama and found she could destroy the very ground with her fist.

She saw when she came to Suna for the very first time and saved Kankurou's life from Sasori's poison.

She saw when Chiyo-sama gave up her life to save… to save…

Head bowing slightly as she sighed deeply, thoughts of Gaara came tumbling into her mind. Sakura had been worried sick about him that one time, when they thought he was dead. In truth, he _was_ dead, but Chiyo-sama had given herself as an ultimate sacrifice to save him. They had been only acquaintances back then, but despite that, she had been genuinely concerned about his welfare…

How would she feel if something similar happened to him now? He would be counting on her to save him just like he had saved her. It had nothing to do with their abilities as ninjas… and had all to do with their love for each other.

As Sakura thought about it more carefully, Gaara _had_ made a mistake when fighting Deidara and this had led to his abduction. She had been on the team to save him and she had made up for his error by saving his brother. Despite all this, the Kazekage had met them with his head held high and thanked them for their aid instead of regretting his actions. He didn't go around moping about how hopeless he was… because in truth, he really wasn't useless, just as _she_ wasn't useless.

Half-smiling as her spirit came soaring back into her, Sakura wished she hadn't been so defensive that morning. He really had wanted to help, but unfortunately, his people skills weren't exactly the best. He was snappy, cranky, easily offended, impatient, insensitive… and he was _her_ man. She had chosen him above all the others and she was going to stick with her decision.

Now that she thought about it, she really hadn't even thanked him for rescuing her…

'Nice one, Haruno,' she thought in resignation.

But now wasn't the time to regret any of her actions. Taking advantage of her surroundings, she decided that a small workout was called for. It would be a great way to let go of the tension she had been building up for days and she would be able to face Gaara with a clearer mind afterwards.

As she finished stretching however, a familiar chakra appeared out of nowhere from behind an adjacent building and started to make its way towards her.

Knowing she would have to face him eventually, Sakura was actually relieved that it would be sooner than expected. The least she could do was apologize for her behaviour.

So, turning around, she looked up towards his approaching figure, her lips already voicing an apology.

But once more, he stopped her short.

Coming to a stand a few paces away from her, Gaara crossed his arms over his chest and addressed her, a challenge in his eyes.

"Some time ago," he said calmly, "your team mates experienced quite some trouble when they tried to bring me down. They were extremely hard pressed, even between the two of them…"

As he said these last words, he adopted a defensive taijutsu stance.

"…Let's see how you measure up," he finished, a grin on his face.

Complete and utter shock covered Sakura's features for an instant, but she managed to sober up quickly.

He _had_ to be insane.

He was challenging _her_ to a match? She couldn't possibly even hope to…

But then again, maybe she did.

This was his way of showing her how much he respected her abilities and a way of letting her know that he thought of her as his equal. Neither of them looked down at each other, but instead looked eye to eye. This was his way to prove to her that her worth as a shinobi was equal to that of her team mates, if not greater.

This was _his_ way of cheering her up.

'Why couldn't he just be normal?' she thought as she took out her gloves from one of her many secret pockets. 'Why couldn't he just cuddle me in bed all day and whisper reassuring words to me?'

But as she put her gloves on, she knew, deep down in her heart, that she wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Chuckling slightly as she mimicked his pose, she looked straight into his brilliant jade eyes.

"Consider your challenge accepted."

"Good," he replied, eyes sparkling with mischief.

"But I must warn you," she taunted him, humour in her voice, "Lee _is_ my taijutsu instructor and from what I recall, taijutsu is your weakness."

"How do you know I haven't been working on my flaws?" he replied, smiling wickedly. "Besides, who ever said we would only be using taijutsu?"

She chuckled unbelievingly at him, shaking her head. "You're the worst, you know?"

"And you love me for it," he answered without missing a beat.

She smiled in response as an overwhelming feeling took over her in that instant. All the bottled up emotions of self-doubt, all the loss of confidence that she had been fighting for days, all the anger at herself and at the people who had made her feel less than what she was… it all came rushing up to the surface.

_Take a good look at my back._

And with all the strength of spirit she could muster, Sakura lunged towards Gaara at full speed.

XXXXXXX

He knew she would be fast… but not _this_ fast.

They had been going at each other for quite a while now, and neither of them had landed a direct hit.

He found himself relying on his sand more often that not, realising that if he screwed up even once, a punch or a kick would send him right into the face of oblivion.

And she really hadn't been lying when she had told him about Lee being her instructor. Gaara could clearly see the influence of Lee's techniques in her movements; she didn't make any move in vain and didn't waste her energy. Her speed was undeniably his doing as well. The red head was genuinely amazed at how good she was in close combat.

But he was giving her a run for her money as well.

Sand coming at her from every angle, Sakura was forced to pay attention not only to Gaara's movements, but to the ever threatening tendrils hovering around her as well. She needed to be in constant movement, or else the strands would easily catch her and leave her helpless. This also meant she couldn't use any type of genjutsu, since she didn't have the time to complete the hand signals to release the technique. Therefore, she could only rely on her speed and her inhuman strength.

All things considered, it was the best attack strategy she could use.

She came at him constantly, which also prevented him from using any of his special techniques.

Distracting her with his sand tendrils, Gaara decided it was time to see how she fared under his 'Suna Shigure'. He started with the necessary hand gestures but was promptly interrupted by a flash of pink coming directly his way.

How she had evaded his sand wasn't clear, all he knew was that a fist was hastily making its way towards his face. Unconsciously, he brought his sand shield up, tendrils hardening immediately, creating a solid barrier between him and the assaulting kunoichi.

Sakura's fist connected with the shield in a violent motion.

Gaara's eyes widened in surprise as huge ripples of powerful chakra reverberated throughout his sand.

Moving backwards slightly just in the nick of time, the red head managed to avoid the incoming punch as it created a large hole in his shield and went straight through, missing his face by mere centimetres.

He jumped back immediately, gathering chakra in his feet so he could leap higher, trying to keep enough distance between them to evade another attack.

Sakura saw him jump up, somersaulting backwards. Calculating the angle with which he would land, she kneeled on the ground as he was coming down. Releasing a punch straight into the solid earth, opening up a large crack, which headed directly towards Gaara's landing spot.

When he was positioning his feet to land, a large spike of rock jutted out abruptly from the crack Sakura had created, hitting the red head in mid air, causing him to lose the necessary balance needed to land properly.

But as he twisted in the air, his sand came to his rescue, creating a platform underneath him and caught him just before he could fall.

They looked at each other intensely, Gaara hovering in the air while Sakura kneeled on the ground, both panting slightly.

"I almost had you there, Sabaku no Gaara," she said smiling.

"Almost, but not quite," he replied, matching her grin.

Standing firmly upon his floating sand, Gaara his hands suddenly started working on some hand signals.

"Hey, no fair! You're up in the air you cheater!" Sakura complained with a shout.

He didn't deign her with an answer and just grinned back at her while he gathered his chakra.

"Damn it!" Sakura exclaimed, as she punched the ground once again, this time with more force. Two cracks appeared this time, both spikes of rock jutting out from beneath Gaara's vantage point, forcing him to move his sand to avoid a direct hit.

She didn't manage to hit him, but it was enough for him to lose his concentration. The pink haired kunoichi kept on punching the ground, causing more rock spikes to strike out, forcing the red head to keep moving constantly.

Suddenly, Sakura heard the rustle of sand behind her and turned to look at an approaching tendril. How the _hell_ had he managed to get the sand behind her?

It was too close for her to avoid it completely, so in a desperate attempt to beat him, she punched the ground five consecutive times in such rapid movements that her hand could only be seen as a blur.

Avoiding the first three rock spikes with ease, Gaara laughed in triumph as he saw his sand reach her, taking hold of her by the wrists and ankles.

"You're mine, kunouchi!" he exclaimed.

A clever look was all the reply she gave him, a deadly sparkle shining in her eyes.

The fourth rock spike jutted exactly beneath him and he was forced to move abruptly to the left to avoid it…

Which was exactly where the fifth spike was waiting for him.

Crashing head first against the rock, Gaara lost control of his balance and tumbled from his sand, heading straight towards the solid earth. Rolling on the ground as he tried to absorb the shock of the impact, his sand dispersed completely as he released all control over it.

As the tendrils released her, Sakura panted heavily, her chakra nearly exhausted as she thanked her luck. It was by pure chance that she had been able to predict the red head's movements correctly, enabling her to land a blow. Some distance away, Gaara came up into a kneeling position, his face telling her in no small terms that he hadn't enjoyed that fall _at all_. He looked **so** grumpy!

They caught each other's eyes in an intense gaze, but the silence of the training ground was suddenly broken by a beautiful and clear laugh.

Sakura grabbed her stomach as she tried to control her laughter, but every time she looked up at Gaara's grumpy and grouchy face, she would just dissolve into uncontrollable giggles.

"What's so damn funny?" he asked angrily as he stood up and crossed his arms in front of him, forehead creased in irritation.

"You are!" she said between laughs. "It seems you don't like being beaten at your own game."

"Who says I was beaten?" he replied defensively, "it was mere luck! And if I recall correctly, you were trapped and defenceless in my sand."

But she wasn't listened to his arguments. Laughing in glee, Sakura released all the tension she had been experiencing all week, stomach hurting with every laugh. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks as she finally managed to let go of all her inner doubts through this fit of mirth… and it was all thanks to him.

Trying to keep his face as stern as possible, Gaara found he just couldn't prevent himself from smiling as he saw his girl return to the joyful and energetic person she truly was… to the vigorous and happy woman he loved. Even if her laughter was at his expense, he knew his discomfort was worth every moment of it.

Sand gathering under her, Sakura felt herself being lifted, still laughing slightly as she was carried towards the red head.

She managed to stand as the sand deposited her next to him. Without giving her a chance to speak, Gaara engulfed her in his embrace, burying his face in her vanilla scented hair.

Returning his embrace with full force, Sakura nuzzled his neck, not even noticing the fact that they were both sweating from their previous exercise.

"Thank you," she whispered to him after a while of enjoying the protective feel of his arms around her.

"You're welcome," he answered contentedly, glad that he had finally managed to find a way to help her out of her depression. "Looks like whenever you feel sad about something, I will just have to kick your ass," he added slyly.

"You _did not_ kick my ass," she said, looking up at him.

"Not exactly, but at the moment, I can think of a few other things I might want to do to it…" he said, his insinuation made crystal clear as one of his hands made its way down her body and squeezed her bottom firmly.

"Gaara!" Sakura chided him, a small blush covering her cheeks as she looked around to see if there was anyone else in the vicinity.

Chuckling at her reaction, he took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply.

XXXXXXX

As they watched the couple kissing each other passionately, Temari and Kankurou laughed quietly to themselves. They were safely situated behind a building and had managed to witness the breathtaking battle that had just taken place. They had been looking for Sakura, since they had heard that the couple had been quarrelling in the morning, and wanted to make sure she was ok. Their baby brother could be quite merciless when it came to verbal attacks.

After enquiring about her whereabouts, they had been led to this training area, but when they arrived, they found that their brother had gotten there first.

Watching the Kazekage and the pink haired medic stroll away, Kankurou chuckled in mirth as he saw Gaara take Sakura's hand in his as they walked, completely amazed at the unexpected gesture. Never in his life would the puppet master have thought that Gaara would ever initiate any type of physical contact. It was reassuring to see how much he had progressed under Sakura's care.

"I'm glad he's found someone," he said to his sister, as the blond looked intently at retreating couple.

"Yes. After all he's been through, it was about time," Temari answered with a smile.

Looking around at the dismantled training area, which was now covered with rock spikes sticking out of the grounds at odd angles, a thought crossed Kankurou's mind and caused him to shake his head.

"Can you imagine what their kids will be like?" he asked, apprehension in his voice.

Turning swiftly at the puppet master, a look of foreboding on her features, Temari shook her head as well.

"I refuse to even think about it," she replied.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this vignette! Let me know what you think. 


	6. Surreptitious lust

**A/N:** Ok, I was planning on updating another of my stories, but as it's usually the case, when I sit down to write, my mind comes up with something completely different to what I had originally planned.

That's how this hot little piece originated… hehe.

A **smut warning** needs to be placed here, since I've gotten a few requests for another smoldering scene between our favorite couple. Lime-on-demand I like to call it, so I hope this chapter will spice things up a bit. So, you've been warned… there's **mature content** up ahead!

Enough said… on with the show!

* * *

_Summary:_ Being Kazekage gives Gaara an insurmountable quantity of privileges… one of these being the right to corner his unsuspecting pink haired lover in an empty hospital office for a much needed quickie. But in the end, he is reminded once more that Sakura is not a woman to be trifled with.

* * *

Sakura walked hurriedly down the hospital's corridor, glad for the relative coolness reaching her face as she strolled along. She was finally done with this morning's classes and she was now on her way to an important meeting with Suna's top medics. Being the skilled nin she was, they had invited her to the assembly without hesitation, knowing that her opinions and input would be extremely helpful when it came to discussing the different innovative procedures they would be going over. 

As she made her way through the hallways, she was completely immersed in the material she had been given prior to the meeting and was attentively reading the contents of the folder as she walked. Some of the techniques they would be conferring about were completely fascinating and she couldn't wait to be able to put them into practice in the field.

So absorbed was the pink haired kunoichi in her reading that she completely failed to notice when a hand reached out with amazing speed from an adjacent door and pulled her forcefully into an empty office. Her world whirled momentarily and she was instantly on the offensive, papers scattering as she assumed a taijutsu stance. Her aggression was short lived however, when she was crushed against a very familiar muscular chest and the rustling sound of sand could be heard over her loud heartbeat.

"Gaara, why did you do that?" she chided, eyebrows creasing in annoyance. He could be so childish sometimes. Trying to push herself away from him in a gesture of displeasure at his actions, she found that his arms wouldn't budge.

Looking up at him for the first time, Sakura's breath caught instantly in her throat when her gaze fell upon his ardent jade eyes. She recognized that look and the hairs on her arms stood on edge in anticipation, knowing very well what his intentions were. He was planning on having his way with her and there was nothing she could to prevent it from happening…

…such were the consequences for falling in love with Suna's lustful and temperamental Kazekage.

"I don't know how you do it," he told her huskily, "but you have the annoying ability of being the only thing in this world which can distract me when I'm supposed to be working. It is completely and utterly irritating… but I'm a fast learner. I now know that I need to get what I want before I can continue with the things I have to do."

Even though she knew it was useless, she tried to get herself out of this one. "I have an appointment in 15 minutes," she told him, trying to struggle out of his grasp.

"We'll have to make this quick then," he replied and without another word, he lifted her up and sat her down on a nearby desk, parting her legs and stepping between them.

Crushing her lips with a fierce kiss, he lifted her face up to him while his tongue plunged inside her mouth, relishing the taste of her. Taking her medic robe off with barely contained violence, his hands traveled down her body, undoing the clasps of her shirt as they went.

"You knew I was wearing skirt today," Sakura said, completely breathless.

"Of course I knew, why did you think I got distracted in the first place?" he replied, not stopping in the task of taking her shirt off. He made quick work of her bra and buried his face in her chest, suckling her roughly. Between the sensuous feel of his tongue and the erotic scrape of his teeth, Sakura bit her bottom lip in and attempt to stop the shrieks of pleasure which were threatening to escape. Never in her life would she have been prepared for the unexpected sensual onslaught he was giving her and she could no nothing but succumb to his whims.

"Gaara," she moaned, twisting her hands in his hair and scraping her nails against his scalp. It was too much too suddenly and Sakura felt the pulsing of her arousal all over her body, kicking her senses into overdrive. Often, she had thought that the effect Gaara had on her body was completely unfair… he could turn her on like a switch and could leave her gasping in a matter of seconds. This was a perfect display of the way he controlled her every reaction and when the moment came, Sakura knew she would never posses the strength to fight it.

His ministrations were effectively making her forget where she was and the knowledge that anyone could walk in through the door at any moment was quickly vanishing to a distant corner of her mind. Gaara was making sure that her thoughts were focused _only_ on him… on the feel of his mouth against, of the feel of his muscles underneath his shirt, of the way he growled when he was aroused… Sakura's universe was rapidly narrowing down to the exquisitely sensuous man wreaking havoc on her body.

Gaara came up from her chest and kissed her forcefully, cupping both her breasts in his hands as he did so. Arms wrapped around his neck, Sakura groaned into his mouth, crushing herself against him in an attempt to come impossibly closer. He growled when she rubbed against his own arousal and at his reaction, the pink haired girl wasted to time in reaching down to caress him through the fabric of his trousers.

In response, his hands left her breasts and traveled down her sides. Once they reached the hem of her knee-length skirt, he pulled it up until the entire length of her milky white thighs was deliciously exposed. Swiping the few contents on top of the desk with a swipe of his hand, the red head pushed Sakura back until her back was resting completely against its surface.

Her panties came off in a blink of an eye and Gaara was suddenly naked from the waist down, standing dominantly above her. As much as she tried to reach for him, he wouldn't have any of it.

"We need to get this over with swiftly," he told her, a smirk on his lips, "you have an appointment you can't miss."

She was about to voice a reply when he suddenly parted her legs even further and entered her in one fluid thrust. Biting her hand to avoid the cry of intense pleasure making it's way up her throat, Sakura knew she couldn't make any noise since even now, people were walking down the corridor on the other side of the door.

And he knew it… he knew she would have to keep quiet and he was enjoying every second of it.

A predatory grin covered Gaara's face as he leaned towards her, a hand on either side of her. "Come for me, Sakura," he said to her as he started to move inside her.

The pink haired girl thought she was going to pass out from the soul-stealing feeling of having him buried entirely inside of her. He knew exactly what she liked and knew exactly how he needed to move to give her immense amounts of pleasure and right now, he was giving her exactly that.

Looking down at her as he plunged in and out of her, Gaara could not help but wonder at the amazingly responsive woman beneath him. He loved to see her this way, spread under him, moaning and closing her eyes with desire. It was something he had been starting to crave even more these past few days and what had driven him to complete distraction today. Images of Sakura's pleasure-filled face as they made love would come to his mind unbidden and had forced him to stop in his tasks to go out and search for her.

He _needed_ to have her… he _needed_ to be inside her, to teach her a new meaning of physical bliss. He wanted to be the one to make her lose control and he wanted her to crave him in the same way he craved her. It was a completely addictive cycle, since the more he had her, the more he desired her and there was nothing he could do to stop himself from wanting her more and more each day.

Sakura was now the foundation around which his life revolved… she was _everything_ to him. His obsessive mind wouldn't have it any other way, not after all she had inadvertently taught him, not after the way she had skilfully made her way under his skin and into his cold, wicked heart. She had found a home inside his spirit and he would never, in his entire life, let her go. He would teach her, physically and emotionally, that her place in this life was to stand beside him… just like his place was to stand beside her.

Using one of his hands while leaning on the other, Gaara reached for her core and started caressing her in a way he knew would send her over the edge. Sakura opened her eyes suddenly, looking up at him, her mouth wide in surprise as her body tried to assimilate the waves of ecstasy making their way through her whole being.

Gaara felt her climax around him and let himself go when he felt her muscles clench deliciously with the force of her orgasm. He came deep inside her, filling her with his warmth as he lifted his face up to the ceiling, stifling a groan of pleasure.

Trying to catch her breath as she floated slowly back down to the world, Sakura could only rest on top of the desk, all her energy momentarily stolen by the deliciously sensuous man leaning on top of her. After a few moments, he looked down at her, his customary wicked grin on his lips. Seeing her awash in the afterglow of their lovemaking, the red head couldn't resist the urge to lean down and kiss her softly on the lips.

"I promised it would be quick," he whispered to her. Chuckling slightly at his words, the pink haired girl swatted him playfully on the arm.

"And who says I like it when it's quick?" she asked haughtily.

"If I recall correctly, you seemed to be enjoying yourself quite a bit a few minutes ago. However, if I didn't make a good enough impression, I would be happy to give you another demonstration…" and with that, he shifted inside her, sending waves of delight through her already sensitive nerves.

"Gaara, no!" she said, willing herself to stop him as she pushed him away from her. She knew that if he started once again, she would be powerless to do anything and she would never make it to her meeting. She knew her weaknesses and she would not let him exploit them… at least no more than once a day.

Chuckling with malice, the red head did what he was told and stepped away from her, leaving her to put her clothing back on. As Sakura was closing up her shirt, he had already put his trousers back on and was intently looking at an item of clothing he was holding in his hand.

"I think I'll keep these," he said wickedly. Looking up from what she was doing, Sakura found her panties hanging mockingly from his index finger. Before he could do anything, the pink haired medic used her expert shinobi quickness to recuperate the missing item and rapidly stood up to put them back on.

"Yes, I'm sure you'd love to have me go to a meeting full of male medics wearing a skirt and no panties. I'm sure you'd be happy with the show I could give them."

Eyes darkening at the implication behind her words, Gaara's brow creased in sudden irritation as jealous impulses swept through him.

Sakura congratulated herself on her latest victory and was completely sure that her lover was now going over the most painful ways in which he could eliminate his standing board of medics.

Straightening her skirt back into place, she put on her medic robe and wiped away any dust which it may have gathered from where it had been sitting on the floor. Arranging her short her into some semblance of order, she thought she was presentable enough again.

She was about to lean down to pick up the scattered papers from her folder only to find Gaara holding the aforementioned item in his hands, scanning through the reports he had picked up as well. He got bored quickly however, and handed it back to her.

"Do I have permission to leave, Kazekage-sama?" she asked teasingly.

"I don't know," he replied, coming closer and embracing her one last time. "I could think of some better uses for you than to have you attend a boring assembly."

Shaking her head at his seemingly insatiable sexual appetite, she kissed him lightly on the lips. "Do you want to leave first or should I?" she asked, completely aware of the fact that if both of them walked out of a supposedly empty office together, suspicions would be quick to arise.

"Don't worry, everything's been thought of," he told her arrogantly, and with that, he disappeared in a sudden cloud of sand.

'How does he _do_ that?' Sakura thought angrily, aware of the fact that he hadn't been carrying his gourd.

Hoping her cheeks weren't flushed from the activities she had just participated in, she walked out of the office and hurried down the corridor. Somehow, thanks to the merciful workings of the world, she managed to walk into the meeting only two minutes late and was happy to find that other people still hadn't arrived.

"Haruno-san," Tsuyoshi-sama greeted her. He was one of the hospital's directors and a man who had achieved amazing breakthroughs in the area of bone-healing jutsus.

"Sensei," Sakura replied, bowing in respect.

"We are running a few minutes late but we'll be starting soon enough. Please take a seat", he said with a smile, gesturing at a nearby chair.

Thanking him quickly, the pink haired girl made her way towards her seat. The chairs were arranged in a semi-circle around a large table where the three heads of the medic board were to be seated. Sakura was sitting directly in front of the table in the first row, but as she arranged the contents of her folder, she was suddenly distracted by the feel of a familiar powerful chakra and she immediately looked up.

There, sitting smugly at one of the seats of the board's table, was none other than the village's Kazekage… looking like he had arrived ages ago. He was looking at her directly and as their eyes met, he crossed his arms, his face taking on the expression of mock boredom.

Eyes narrowing down to slits, Sakura couldn't believe her eyes. Irritation at his demeanor and at the tricks he played on her was boiling rapidly to the surface.

'You cheeky little…' she thought in anger. 'How dare you not tell me that you were coming to the conference too?'

But as she thought of all the ways she could make him pay later, a plan of action started to form clearly in her mind. She would beat him at his own game and she would do it right now.

Standing up in a hurry, she made her way towards Tsuyoshi-sama. "Sir, do you think there's still time for me to make a quick run to the lavatory? You know how this heat gets to me and I'd like to freshen up."

"Of course, Sakura-san, please go ahead. There's plenty of time," he replied amiably.

Nodding towards him, Sakura went out the door and hurried down the hallway. She was back in less than two minutes and was able to return to her chair with more than enough time before the conference started.

The board of director's started talking first, giving a long speech concerning the great importance of constant research in the area of medical jutsus. Throughout the long monologue they offered, Gaara used every possible way to attract Sakura's attention, letting her know with his eyes how excruciatingly boring he thought this whole thing was.

'How can you put up with this everyday?' his expression was telling her.

'Why you don't grow up a little?' she replied by raising her elegant eyebrows arrogantly.

He smirked at her and returned his gaze momentarily towards the director who was speaking now, careful to let the older men think that he was actually paying attention to what they were saying. But it wasn't long before his interest returned to his pink haired lover.

By then, two of the heads of the board had moved to the side, where the presentation of the first techniques was being projected. Everyone's attention was directed towards the adjacent wall were the directors proceeded to give a detailed explanation of the jutsus.

The Kazekage, however, was the only person in the room who neglected to turn their way completely.

Sakura knew she needed to pay attention to what they were saying… these were techniques which could save the lives of many shinobi. But her lover had decided that he wanted to behave like a 6 year old school boy in the middle of a boring class.

It was time to teach him a lesson.

Concentrating on his chakra flow just so she could accurately judge his reaction, Sakura proceeded to uncross and re-cross her legs slowly, knowing very well that Gaara would be looking at her.

She saw his chakra freeze momentarily in surprise, as if he thought he hadn't seen what he had seen. However, Sakura proceeded to shift her legs again, confirming his suspicions and she saw the blood drain momentarily from his face.

'That's right, honey,' she thought in triumph, 'your girl's got no panties on. And it was thanks to you that she got the idea!'

His surprise turned quickly into anger as his eyes jumped across every other male in the room. To his relief, none of them were looking Sakura's way, because if they had… he would have been obligated to eliminate them then and there.

To his anguish, Sakura repeated her movements one more time, giving him yet another tantalizing view of her assets.

'**Don't** do that again,' he told her clearly with his eyes, his chakra swirling around him in irritation at the silly game she was playing.

Chuckling as she relished in this victory her quick-thinking brain had offered her, she uncrossed her legs one last time, only to see his chakra flow spike up in a wave of intense anger. Predictably enough, she soon felt rough grains of sand making their way up her legs in an attempt to force her to stop moving them.

But luck was on Sakura's side this day.

"… and for this next technique, I would like to ask a special guest to come up and explain it to us. She's quite the expert in this area of healing jutsus, you see, and she could teach all of us a thing or too," Tsuyoshi-sama was saying. "Haruno-san, would you do us the honor?"

"The honor is all mine," Sakura replied as she stood up, the grains of sand dropping unnoticed from her legs.

Fuming in ire as he watched her walk towards the presentation, Gaara couldn't believe her insolence. And to make matters worse, his pink haired devil threw him a smirk over her shoulder as she passed by his table.

She was officially going to _pay_ for all this.

Smiling in triumph, Sakura knew he wouldn't let her get away with such impertinence, but that didn't matter. She would be able to pay attention to the rest of the conference without being bothered… and it was easy to guess what her red headed lover would be thinking about, especially if she continued to shift her legs around.

All in all, it was a flawless victory and shewas enjoyingevery minute of it.

With that thought in mind, she calmly proceeded to explain to the assembly the basics of the innovative blood-clotting jutsu projected on the wall.

* * *

Please leave your reviews by the door… they are always greatly appreciated! 


	7. Inner demons

**A/N:** Being on a roll is always a positive thing. Haha! I'm actually going to update this story twice in the same week! I'm completely speechless with myself (pats herself on the back).

Here's the next installment for you. It's kind of psychotic and sweet, as is usually the case with Gaara.

I think the reason why I manage to capture his character is because I have a mini Shukaku living inside me… (ignores weird glances from readers). Hehe. I have a really _nasty_ temper and when I get angry, well, let's just say it's not a pretty sight and the people in the immediate vicinity are in danger of being victims of vicious verbal onslaughts (my vocabulary is extremely creative when I'm angered). Therefore, I completely relate to our tanuki-possesed Kazekage in the moments when he 'loses it'. Hehehe. But don't worry, apart from this small quirk in my personality, I'm really one of the friendliest people in the world; if left alone in an empty room, I would probably strike up a conversation with the wall! XD

But enough babble, let's get this thing going!

* * *

_Summary:_ While suffering from a paranoia attack, Gaara decides, as he is wont to do, that Sakura is the cause of it all. Thankfully, after a while of angry accusations, he realizes that in the end, it's really all in his head.

* * *

The cold desert night gripped the quiet village as the clear dark sky revealed thousands of bright stars as far as the eye could see. As it was usual, even during the daytime, very few people dared to challenge the elements of the harsh desert and only a handful of brave souls were seen outside on the streets, hastily making their way towards their respective destinations. 

Among these few scurrying travelers, a lone dark figure could be seen making its way calmly through the shadowed night, walking at a moderate pace and seemingly unaffected by the freezing temperature. Lost in thought, Suna's Kazekage, his trademark gourd strapped to his back, let his feet lead him to his home while his mind concentrated completely on other matters.

The council was being difficult again and Gaara wasn't about to budge in his decision. This was why this afternoon's meeting had culminated disastrously and they were no closer to solving the issue they were facing. Due to some necessary diplomatic procedures, a shinobi team needed to be sent to the Thunder Country in an effort to negotiate a free trade treaty and Suna needed leverage for the terms to shift more in their favor. Therefore, they needed to offer something unique… something none of the other countries had.

That was when a retarded member of his council came up with the _bright_ idea of sending Sakura along with the shinobi team.

Gaara gave him 3 seconds to explain himself before he would send him flying out the window.

As the council discussed the idea, all of them were completely convinced that the pink haired medic was the solution to their problems. She could go to the Thunder Country and offer her medic services on their behalf for a short period of time; with her diversity of skills and amazing knowledge, they would be able to sign the treaty without further complications. It was a stroke of genius and would save all of them precious time, since they really needed to concentrate on other matters and there were many other things to take care of and…

The Kazekage fell into a full temper tantrum right about then.

Insulting the very much questioned intelligence harbored in their diminutive brains, he let them know, in utmost terms, that the proposition they had just come up with was **absolutely** out of the question. Gaara didn't give a shit if he was disrespecting them with his shouting as he pointedly reminded them that Sakura was **not** a Suna shinobi. Her village was Konoha and she didn't have the obligation to go on any missions on Suna's behalf and would only do so if she wanted to.

In that instant, another council member implied that, due to her personal relationship with the Kazekage, the pink haired kunoichi would have no qualms about doing him a personal favor, especially when it was for the good of his village.

That was when the sand threw all of them out of the council room.

Gaara's angry shouting echoed throughout the whole building as all of Suna's committee members ran for cover. How could they even _think_ that he would exploit his relationship with Sakura in such a way? How could they even conceive the thought of using his lover as an 'easy way out' of this problem? How could they even imply that she leave his side to go on a _stupid_ mission which had nothing to do with her in the first place?

From where he was standing in the middle of the meeting room, the Kazekage ordered the scattered members of his council not to bother him with their presence until they came up with a solution which _didn't_ involve the participation of a shinobi from a foreign village. Didn't Suna possess qualified ninjas of its own? Did they always have to depend on their allies to help them?

Gaara's bellows were heard around a half a mile radius. Such insolence would eventually cost him, but at the moment, he was far from caring.

He locked himself in his office for the rest of the day, pouring over his work and trying to keep his anger in check. Mercifully, his tactics worked, since he had many reports to go over and he didn't even notice when darkness feel across his window. When he was interrupted by a soft knocking on the door, he realized his temper had abated significantly as he let the person outside enter.

It was one of his genins. The young girl came into his office shyly, carrying a tray of food for him.

"Haruno-san said you might be hungry," she said respectfully, "she sent this for you and wanted me to tell you that you shouldn't forget to eat, no matter how fascinating your work is."

The girl dropped her eyes to the floor in embarrassment, cheeks flushing slightly. She was standing here, in her leader's office and seemingly reproaching him working too much. It was completely unheard of. However, it had been none other than Haruno Sakura, the famously skilled medic, who had asked her for this personal favor… and you just _didn't_ turn her down.

The sarcasm in his lover's statement echoed clearly in the young girl's words and Gaara found himself smirking, imagining the expression in her pretty face whenever she used irony to prove a point.

"Thank you," he said to the genin. "You can leave the tray here. And tell Haruno-san she shouldn't worry so much. You can go home now, Maiya."

Slightly surprised that he actually knew her name, the young girl smiled at him as she blushed. Bowing in respect, she made her way hurriedly out the door.

That had been a couple hours ago and he hadn't been able to completely finish going over his reports but he had decided it was definitely time to call it a day.

Hence, he found himself walking down the streets of his village at present, making his way home at a leisurely pace.

There was something in the back of his mind which was bothering him, but he couldn't quiet place it. True, that afternoon's outburst was still affecting his mood and whenever he thought about the council's impudence, his stomach would clench in anger all over again. Despite this fact, he was aware that there was something nagging at him which had nothing do with his earlier rage… or maybe it did.

As he was wont to do when confronted by an illusive thought, he breathed deeply, forcing himself into a state of calm. Making sure that Shukaku was locked away in the darkest recesses of his mind, he allowed himself to pinpoint the uncomfortable feeling he had been ignoring since he had hidden himself up in his office.

It didn't take long to for it to reach the surface.

His council thought he was getting weak. It was the only way to explain their reaction that afternoon. The suggestions they had offered concerning the free trade problem they were facing would never have surfaced before… they would have never _dared_ to suggest such a mediocre solution, not when they knew that their lives would be in danger if they did so.

But today, all of the members of the council had actually spoken up against him without any evident qualms while they were doing so. They expressed no fear when speaking to him and they even went so far as to involve his lover in the situation.

This was a completely unprecedented event.

Gaara didn't know if having his committee members coming up to him and expressing themselves without any hesitation was a good thing or not. He was used to ruling with discipline and maybe with a little bit of fear; but fear meant respect, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Uncertain if this train of events was a positive one, the Kazekage was reluctant to change the way he had handled his political position, especially when things seemed to be changing in the way his subordinates were relating to him.

And the cause for this change was evident… it pointed directly to a single person. A person he had thrown a tantrum this very afternoon to defend.

_Sakura_

His relationship with her had affected him in all kinds of levels and had affected the way his people perceived him. Gaara was no longer the unapproachable monster he used to be, and even though they hadn't exactly warmed up to him, they weren't openly hostile towards him anymore. They had always kept a safe distance and the red head had been happy with that. He wasn't exactly comfortable with interpersonal relationships yet and secretly, he would sometimes panic when he was forced to relate to someone personally. A barrier would always be placed as protection, it was an unconscious self-defense mechanism he had instinctively created and his people respected it… they always knew it was there.

But when Sakura came along, they started to overstep that barrier. By seeing the way he was capable of relating to someone else, an inexplicable source of courage invaded his subordinates and they started to overstep their bonds… one of his assistants would always make a point of bringing him a cup of coffee in the morning, or his council members would greet him with genuine smiles when he walked by or the janitor who took care of his building would say a friendly 'good night' when it was time for him to go home.

Knowing it was completely ridiculous to worry about these small things, the Kazekage had let them slide. But they just kept _happening_ and wouldn't go away. These were events Gaara had _never_ experienced in his life and they disconcerted him to no end. He knew they were normal interactions which happened between normal people… but since when had _he_, Sabaku no Gaara, Shukaku's vessel, had ever been included in any type of normal interaction?

The answer was never, not even when he had been elected leader. These types of encounters unsettled him and when he was unsettled, he felt weak… and when he thought he was weak, he would get angry… _extremely_ angry. That was the way he had always worked, ever since the day he was born and joined with the wretched demon living inside of him.

And his council knew this… they saw and tried to exploit that weakness. It was the only way to explain the events of their earlier meeting. Not for the first time, Gaara congratulated himself on the way he had handled the situation. It had been an efficient reminder of the way things _truly_ were, so that they would never forget who he was.

'_But didn't you want to end your loneliness?_' a small voice inside his head said. Taken by surprise by the unexpected thought, the Kazekage stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the street.

He immediately recognized the truth behind the statement, and memories of his desperate and miserable childhood came flooding back to him. It was true… throughout his life he had craved for the interaction he was now receiving; he had wanted to be treated precisely in this way and he would have given his life to achieve such acknowledgement from another person back then.

But the truth was that, when he _did_ receive it, he was completely unprepared for it. It had been dropped unexpectedly on his lap and he had no idea what to do with it… no idea of how he should react, what things he should say, what gestures he should make. Whenever someone was friendly towards him, his first instinct was always to flee, to get the hell out of there… either that, or to wrap the person up in sand and end their existence for daring to come so close, for daring to defy his barriers.

To say that such vulnerability did not sit well with him with a complete and utter understatement. Sabaku no Gaara was anything _but_ vulnerable and he defended himself with the weapon he knew best how to use…

_Anger_

And this moment in time was not an exception.

Just what the **_hell_** had Sakura done to him?

Who did she think she was, to come barging into his life and changing his world without his consent? Who gave her the authority to come over to _his_ village and cause such commotion? He had been doing a great job as Kazekage before she got here… things were simple and straightforward. He ruled and his subordinates respected him by keeping their distance. It had been functioning perfectly until she decided to step in.

Bursting into motion once more, Gaara's now furious steps where completely at odds with the relaxing pace he had previously used. He would give her a piece of his mind before this night was over and things would be returning to the way _he_ preferred. It was _his_ village, _his_ job and it was _his_ decision to choose the best way to perform his duties.

As he walked, he thought more about the whole situation and realized the extent in which the pink haired medic had affected him. Not only had she changed his surroundings, she was starting to change him… to change the way he behaved towards others.

If he remembered correctly, he had called the young genin who had brought him food earlier this night by her name. Her _name_! And not only that, but he had acted in a completely paternal manner towards her by telling her she should go home and rest…

What the **fuck** had that been about?

Since when did he make a point of referring to his shinobi in such a personal manner? They were his ninja, the murderous tools with which he provided a better life for Suna. They were born with a single purpose, to serve their village and their leader with unconditional loyalty to provide a brighter future for the coming generations.

But then he had to behave all friendly towards the young girl… no wonder that others just like her were harassing him on the street!

The Kazekage had changed into a complete wuss and the word was spreading through the village like wildfire.

Growling at himself for his stupidity, he let his sand take him the rest of the way, its furious tendrils slashing out as he went.

He almost tore the door off its hinges. Walking at a brusque pace, he threw his gourd on the floor, making an awful racket. When he didn't see Sakura in the living room or in the kitchen, he stalked his way towards the bedroom, a deadly scowl on his face.

Turning to enter the open door, he took in a deep breath, the beginnings of an angry bellow working their way up his throat.

But he froze in his tracks, his words coming out in an unintelligible gurgle as he choked down his yell with a cough.

There she was on the bed, lying on her side facing the door. She was wearing her preferred tank top and boxer pajamas, an arm cradling her head while her other hand held a magazine loosely on the matress.

She was absolutely and utterly asleep, looking like a celestial being sent to share her grace with the lesser beings of this world.

Despite the din he had made on his way in, she hadn't stirred in the least. Gaara suddenly realized that she had probably tried to stay up and wait for him; the magazine explained as much, since the pink haired kunoichi usually tried to read to prevent herself from falling asleep, but this exercise would always have the opposite effect.

Before he could do anything, his heart clenched painfully with guilt. Here he was, about to pick a fight and yell at her, while she had been doing everything in her power to stay awake so she could spend a few extra moments with him before they went to bed.

He was an idiot… there was no doubt about that.

Anger completely deflating in a matter of 2.5 seconds, Gaara rubbed his face with his hands roughly. Irritation at his stupidity followed quickly, and he realized how utterly immature he had behaved.

None of the events which were taking place were Sakura's fault… in all honesty, instead of blaming her, he should've been thanking her. Even though he wasn't ready to open up to people, and he wasn't sure if he would ever be, deep inside he was aware that his subordinates' change in behavior towards him wasn't a bad thing. In fact, this change unlocked all types of possibilities in which he could improve his leadership, the only problem was that he wasn't sure if he could handle it at the moment.

During his childhood, he had suffered all types of abuses and there were certain things which were engraved too deeply in his soul for him to let go… at least for the time being. He was changing, yes, but he was far from being the most assertive person on the face of the planet. And if truth be told, he _didn't_ want to become such a person, his personality spoke openly against it. The changes he had suffered were because he had let them happen and they did not make him weak. Just one thought of Naruto and the amazing strength he had gained by creating such bonds with other people was enough to assure Gaara of that.

He had been so eager to place the blame on someone so he could justify his apprehensiveness that he had failed to think rationally about the whole situation… as was usually the case.

Sighing, he finally willed himself to enter the room. He washed his teeth quickly and discarded his clothing, putting on the pair of sweat pants he usually slept in. Turning out all the lights, he found his way confidently towards the bed and snuggled against Sakura's back, hugging her from behind as he leaned in to kiss her cheek.

She stirred sleepily at the contact and opened her eyes slightly.

"Good, you're home," she said groggily.

He grunted in reply.

"You shouldn't stay out working so late… it's not good for you," she told him in the best scolding tone she could manage while being half asleep.

Smiling at the way her concern for him would always let itself show no matter the circumstance, he nuzzled her neck affectionately.

She turned round at that and hugged him back, tangling her legs with his. Burying her face in his throat, she was asleep even before she finished the action, her soft breaths caressing Gaara's skin.

As he let himself commence his deep meditation, the red head relished in the feeling of contentment permeating through him.

Who gave a shit if the people of his village thought he was weak. Who cared if they thought he was getting soft. Nothing in this world came even close to the feeling of having the woman you loved sleeping in your arms and no matter what taunts his subordinates or his council members threw at him, Gaara would fight them with his head held high and would not let them forget who he was.

He was the Kazekage and one of the most powerful shinobi in the world… and he had a woman to protect and to cherish, and this made him all the more powerful. There was nothing he couldn't overcome, not while she was by his side, and no matter what challenges awaited him in the future, he would meet them head on. Even if it meant greeting his assistants personally every morning or stopping to speak to the janitor for a few moments on his way out of the office… when the time came, he would be ready for them.

Looking down at his pink haired beauty one last time in the darkness, he caressed her cheek lovingly.

'I hope Maiya is sleeping just as well as she is' he thought offhandedly a moment before his mind lost contact with the world.

* * *

Wouldn't you just love to have such 'challenges' as Gaara has in your life? If I did, my life would be so much easier! XD Poor thing, they really _are_ a big deal for him. 

Hope you liked it! And don't worry, my mind will definitely come up with another vignette soon enough. Let me know what you think!


	8. In the kids' ward

**A/N: **Since I've been concentrating on my other stories, I thought it was time I gave this one a little bit of attention, especially since you guys seem to love it. XD

I've received lots of requests from readers of this fic, asking for Sakura and Gaara to have kids and the like. I've actually considered your suggestions, and will eventually explore their 'parenthood' but not just yet. So this chapter is my temporal response to those requests. Hehe.

Concerning the reason why Sakura doesn't get pregnant was kind of obvious to me but it seems it really isn't (looks extremely sheepish). C'mon people, she's a medic nin for crying out loud. A 'contraceptive-no-jutsu' would've been one of Tsunade's basic lessons at the very least! LOL.

Hope you like it.

* * *

_Summary: _Between fits of jealousy and anger, an unexpected surprise is dropped directly into Gaara's lap.

* * *

"You poor dear," Sakura said, kneeling before the four year old who had just come into the infirmary. "Come with me and we'll get you patched up."

"Would you mind carrying her for me?" the pink haired medic asked, turning towards the concerned father standing next to her.

"Of course," the young man said, taking the little girl in his arms carefully. "Will she be alright?" he asked, worry over his daughter evident in his voice.

"I think so," Sakura replied as they walked down the hall. "I'm going to have to clean her up to assess the damage though, but I'm sure she'll be alright," she finished, squeezing the child's small hand as they walked down the hall.

"In here," the Konoha medic said, opening the door to an examination room. "Place her on the bed and I'll be right with you."

It was an extremely busy afternoon in the emergency ward and some of Suna's medics had called Sakura up and asked her if she could help out for a few hours. Not one to pass an opportunity to put her profession into practice, the kunoichi had happily agreed and had gone down to the hospital as soon as possible. As she had been told, the ward was in complete disarray and the medics on call really needed all the help they could get.

Now, night had already crawled its way over the village and Sakura was dealing with her last patient of the day, a little girl who had plummeted on the sidewalk while playing jump rope and had fallen on her chin, scraping her knees badly. Hopefully she hadn't broken anything, since the fall had apparently been a nasty one.

Returning from an adjacent office where she had picked up her kit, Sakura turned to walk up into the room where the father and daughter were waiting, but stopped suddenly in her tracks.

The sight before her was the most endearing scene she had ever witnessed in her life. The father, who appeared to be only a bit older than Sakura, was sitting next to the brown haired girl on the bed while holding an arm around her. It was clear to see that the child was having trouble fighting her tears from the pain but the loving man next to her was whispering sweet words to her while caressing her arm tenderly. In an instant, the girl suddenly smiled at something he said and her eyes twinkled in happiness while she turned to look up at him.

Unexpectedly, the pink haired medic felt a knot form in her throat and she couldn't help but think about Gaara. She pictured him in a scene similar to the one in front of her, with a little girl around the same age but with red hair as he talked to her in tender whispers. Her hand abruptly flew to her mouth in an attempt to control her emotions.

'What the hell is wrong me?' she thought for a moment. 'My hormones are definitely getting the best of me.'

With a vehement shake of her head she stepped into the room, making her presence known.

"Now, let's see how we do," she said with a smile, pulling up a chair so she could sit in front of the child, settling her kit and a bowl of water on a nearby table.

When she was settled, the father stepped down from the bed but kept holding his daughter's hand in his.

"Thank so you much for seeing to her so quickly," he told Sakura as she was preparing some gauze to clean up the injuries before in front of her.

"No need to thank me," she replied, "I do my job with pleasure."

"What's your name, sweety?" she asked, turning towards the girl.

"Aki," she replied.

"Alright Aki," Sakura said with a reassuring smile, "I'm going to clean you up first since I need to know how badly you got hurt. We'll get to your knees in a second because your chin is what is actually worrying me."

Moistening up the bloodied gauze her father had placed over the injury, Sakura peeled it carefully from the girl's skin. Taking a piece of cotton dipped in antiseptic, she cleaned it up tenderly, noticing the way Aki bit her lower lip as she did so.

"I'm afraid you're going to need a stitch on this," she informed both of them. "Don't worry dear, you won't feel anything."

She sprayed a local anesthetic over Aki's chin and started to thread one of her sterilized needles. "You know, I loved to play jump rope when I was little too," she said to the girl while she worked, "my mother used to buy me these colourful jump ropes that I used to love."

"My mummy isn't around to do that," Aki replied with no malice or resentment in her voice; she was simply stating a fact.

The father coughed at the comment and turned a deep shade of crimson when Sakura turned to look at him.

"Her mother is a kunoichi," he said without the pink haired medic needing to ask. "She didn't want to abandon her career and well, as soon as Aki was born, she left her with me. I had actually proposed to her but she scoffed at my antics and wouldn't have any of it. She drops by to visit whenever she can."

"I see," Sakura said, not wanting to put any more pressure on him concerning the topic; it was clear that he was uncomfortable with it. "Well, you're lucky to have such a lovely daddy, aren't you Aki?"

"Yes I am," the brown haired girl answered with a happy smile.

The man standing next to her now blushed for completely different reasons.

"That analgesic should have kicked in by now," the pink haired medic said. "Do you feel anything?" she asked Aki as she softly pinched her on the side of the cheek.

"Pins and needles," the girl answered with a slight frown.

"Good, that means we are ready to patch you up. This will only take a couple of seconds since you only need a single stitch."

What she said was true and only a minute later, she was turning her attention to Aki's knees, her chin covered with a small bandage.

"Have you always been so good with kids?" the father asked, while caressing his little girl's hair.

Sakura looked at him curiously. "I guess so. I've always loved to take care of kids and have always volunteered to work in their ward whenever I have the chance."

"I guess there's no better way to learn than the direct approach," he replied with a smile. "At least that how I was forced to do it! I had no idea what raising a kid was like."

"Really?" Sakura prompted.

"You have no idea!" he said with a laugh before proceeding to tell about some of the most prominent fiascos he had lived through during the early months of Aki's life.

Sakura listened happily and added some of her comments concerning children here and there as she proceeded to clean the girl's injuries with the tenderness she always applied to her youngest patients.

XXXXXXXXXX

The double doors of the emergency ward opened up and in walked Suna's Kazekage, intent on bringing his pink haired lover home. She had spent the entire afternoon working at the hospital and he knew she would probably be exhausted by now, especially with the way she would usually horde the most difficult cases for herself, trying to lessen the workload for the other medics.

Having finished his tasks for the day at his office, Gaara had decided that he would drop by the hospital on his way home so they could walk back to their apartment together.

The hallways were relatively empty and only the few medics on watch for the night were present. A group of them turned towards the door when he entered and suddenly stood to attention, saluting their leader.

"Kazekage-sama," one of them said, gulping suddenly, thinking that his leader had come to make a spontaneous inspection of their ward.

But he saw the red head looking around as if searching for someone, jade eyes concentrating on anything else but the men before him.

Relief flooded the young medic nin when he realized what Gaara's intentions were. "At the end of the hall, sir, the third door to the right."

Merely nodding at the information, the Kazekage proceeded to walk leisurely down the corridor, leaving a group of suddenly anxious medics in his wake.

Tuning in to Sakura's chakra, he found her in the room the medic had told him. From what he could discern, she was extremely happy and the notion was only reiterated a few seconds later when the sound of her merry laughter filtered through the open door of the room.

The red head wondered what she was so happy about and felt a warm feeling in his chest which only happened when he knew that his girl was pleased about something. Grinning slightly, he turned towards the room and stood in the doorway.

His contentment was short lived however, when he spotted a young man talking lively to Sakura while she listened with rapt attention.

What was going on in here?

Anger engulfed him quickly, followed by the intense jealous impulses which always drowned him whenever he thought about Sakura interacting in a flirty manner with another man. The sand inside his gourd suddenly came to life and started swirling around inside its vessel but the Kazekage managed to control it, not wanting his presence to be known yet.

His quick thinking shinobi mind started assessing his enemy and it was only belatedly that he spotted the small girl with bandaged knees sitting on the examination bed in front of Sakura. The presence of the child meant that he wouldn't be able to kill the man on the spot, as he was craving to do, which implied that he would have to carry his victim outside the emergency ward to spare the little girl from a traumatizing experience.

But after a few more seconds of wrathful contemplation, Gaara suddenly realized who the man in front of him was. His name was Kuro, if he remembered correctly and he was the father of one of his jounin's daughters. Nami, an elite member of his expert tracking group, had left the child in his care, assuming none of the responsibilities of bringing up the little girl. But the politics in Suna wouldn't allow her to do just that and a chunk of her salary would always be taken and used to give her daughter all the commodities she needed and to save up for her education.

Even though understanding the situation provided a slight shift in perspective, this didn't prevent the Kazekage from fuming over the way that Kuro smiled openly at Sakura and at how she actually laughed at his comments as if he were the funniest person in the desert. If this man thought he was going to find a replacement mother at the emergency ward, the red head was going to enjoy proving him wrong.

But it was in the next couple of seconds that the red headed leader officially lost it.

"So, Sakura-san," Kuro was saying casually, "you're more than welcome to come over the house whenever you like. You would make Aki very happy if you came to play jump rope with her."

"I would love to sometime," the pink haired medic replied with a smile. "I have to check on…"

Gaara didn't hear the rest of her sentence.

Chakra swirling with killer instinct while the shifting sand inside his gourd begged to be released, the Kazekage stepped into the room, his jade eyes bringing the promise of death to whoever dared to cross his path.

Sakura looked up at the door instantly, her honed senses suddenly _very_ aware of the jealousy that Gaara was exuding in intense waves.

"Kazekage-sama!" Kuro exclaimed while bowing like a maniac several times.

The red head only looked at him in disgust, eyes narrowing down to slits. But he was unpleasantly surprised when he turned to look at Sakura and found her emerald eyes lit with her own anger.

What was she playing at?

'Don't you dare,' those green orbs were telling him while she sat on the chair with her arms crossed over her chest.

Gaara was about to protest vehemently but the pink haired kunoichi didn't give him time. She stood up suddenly and from an open drawer, she took out a bright orange lollipop.

"Here you go sweety," she said while giving the candy to the little girl, "you behaved like a champ. Now, I want you to avoid playing jump rope or running around too much until those knees of yours heal, ok? I gave your dad some medicines that you can take if it starts hurting again."

"Thank you very much," Kuro said as he straightened up again, stepping forward and taking his daughter in his arms.

"Thank you," Aki said, mimicking her father's words.

"You're very welcome, both of you," Sakura replied, caressing the girl's hair. "Take care and have a good night."

"Kazekage-sama," Kuro said in respect before walking out, bowing as best as he could while carrying his daughter.

Gaara merely nodded, not taking his eyes off Sakura.

"Bye-bye, Kaze-sama!" Aki exclaimed while waving her hand at the red head as she disappeared from the doorway.

If she had been in any other situation, Sakura would have laughed out loud at the child's antics. But as it was, she was now dealing with yet another of Gaara's jealousy fits… if she wasn't careful, this could be a very long night.

She had found that the best technique was to avoid giving him the chance to explode, because if he did, then there was no turning back and the people in the immediate vicinity would be running for their lives. The red head was notorious for exaggerating things, especially when it came to her and inside his mind he would turn a little incident into a world changing event in the matter of a few seconds.

Sighing, the pink haired medic turned towards the examination bed and started cleaning up.

She clearly heard Gaara's intake of breath as he opened his mouth to speak… or to yell, for that matter.

"Don't even go there," Sakura said in a harsh whisper.

She heard him clasp his mouth shut loudly, followed by the irritating noise of his grinding teeth.

"That little girl has no mother and Kuro-san is making the best effort he can to bring her up by himself. If you're going to make a scene just because I was showing them a little bit of kindness, then I suggest you leave."

The pink haired medic kept cleaning the office, not turning to look at him.

The Kazekage's blood was already boiling and he wanted nothing more than to give his anger free reign, but deep down inside he knew that there was some truth behind Sakura's statement. Even so, he wouldn't back down so easily.

"He invited you to his house…" he said, the first words he had spoken this entire time laced with abhorrence.

"He was simply being polite," Sakura exclaimed, while rapidly turning towards him.

"And you said you would go," the red head continued as if she hadn't spoken.

The pink haired kunoichi breathed in deeply, knowing that if she allowed herself to be baited then they would both be done for. She would end up crying all night in bed while he wandered around the nearby dunes trying to calm his anger.

It had already happened a few times before.

Thus, it was time to change her approach.

"Gaara, listen," she said, forcing herself to be calm. "I know we've never actually spoken about this, but I've always wanted to have kids."

The way his jade eyes widened in shock was almost comical.

"I've always loved children and I love being around them. So if I have the chance to play with this little girl and brighten up her day, especially if her mother has never been close to her, I'm obviously going to take it."

She could feel the waves of anger slightly diminishing as he took her words in and a curious expression was settling across his face.

_Nice one_, Inner Sakura said. _It always works with guys. Just mention kids and then they get glued to the spot and don't know what to do._

'Shut up,' the pink haired medic replied while rolling her eyes.

"Let's go home," she said out loud while picking up her kit and coat.

He nodded at her, quiet once more but the spark of his previous anger was still evident in his eyes.

Out on the streets of the chilly desert night, they walked side by side, not saying anything for some time. The way Gaara's shoulders were set let Sakura know that he still hadn't let the ire subside entirely, as he was wont to do. Looking him over, she could easily recognize the scowl adorning his face between the shadows of the streetlamps but she could also tell that he was thinking deeply about something.

The pink haired girl knew that his jealousy fits were the cause of the insecurity which would usually reign over him whenever it came to interpersonal relationships… especially in her regard. Gaara's troubled childhood had made sure that this uncertainty when relating to others would always be present, even if it did manage to diminish slightly.

Sighing, Sakura gave in and decided it was time to make a peace offering. Walking closer to him, she grabbed his hand, entangling her fingers between his.

He resisted for a few seconds, but then squeezed her hand back affectionately. The anger may not have gone away entirely, even though it was fading by the minute. They continued to walk in silence for a few more moments, making their way through Suna's streets.

"Kids?" Gaara asked all of a sudden, breaking the quiet which had descended over them.

Sakura smiled brightly. "Yes, kids. Wouldn't they be wonderful?"

The red head's uncertainty at the question was evident in his silence.

Giggling at his predictable apprehension, the pink haired kunoichi leaned closer to him, lifting their entwined hands and forcing him to place his arm over her shoulder.

"Don't worry," she told him lovingly, "it's not like I want them just yet."

The deep breath the Kazekage let out was more than proof of his sudden relief. But his tone turned mischievous after a few seconds.

"Then I suggest we practice," he said while turning his jade eyes to the beauty beside him.

"Practice what?" Sakura asked innocently.

"Making them," Gaara stated as if it were obvious.

The pink haired snorted in abrupt laughter at his comment. "Like if we don't do that already! You're insatiable, you know?"

"I don't hear you complaining during out lovemaking," he said in defence, the roguish look in his eyes intensifying tenfold. "As a matter of fact, this dark alley looks kind of alluring, don't you think?"

"Don't you dare!" Sakura exclaimed, as she jumped out of his reach, knowing exactly what his intentions were. He was developing an annoying tendency to corner her in the most furtive of places and to kiss her senseless until she agreed to take her clothes off.

"Then you have 10 seconds to get home before I take you right here on the street."

"Gaara," the pink haired kunoichi warned, trying to sound threatening but failing miserably with the lustful look he was giving her.

"Nine…" he started to count.

"I can't possibly get home that fast," she said.

"Then you'd better put your ninja skills to good use… Eight…"

Squealing like a little girl, Sakura turned on her heels, dashing down the streets as fast as her legs could carry her, thinking of all the techniques she could use to make it to the apartment on time.

The Kazekage stood in the shadow of the road smiling wickedly, his previous jealousy tantrum forgotten. His sand suddenly came to life and started swirling around him, reacting to the thrill of the chase. He wasn't sure if he would give her an entire 10 second head start… it would be much more interesting if he cheated.

This was going to be so much fun.

* * *

Read and review, guys! 


	9. Friendship

Well, as it's usually the case, the Kazekage wouldn't leave me alone and vehemently demanded my attention.

This is the product of his most recent interventions.

This one-shot will have continuations so you can expect a couple more of these concerning the goings on in this one. So you can expect some GaaSaku with a few strands of NejiTen. :D hehehe.

Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

_Summary_: It is only in the worst moments of crisis that you really know who your friends are.

* * *

He knew something was wrong when he felt her completely erratic chakra coming down the corridor, heading directly towards his office. She was approaching at amazing speed and before he knew it, he had already stood up from his desk and made his way towards the double doors, expecting the worst.

Sakura burst in a second later, emerald eyes wide and his name on her lips. There was piece of paper in her hand but she was holding it so tight, it was already a crumpled heap. He recognized Konoha's insignia on the note.

"What is it?" he asked as she recovered from the slight shock of finding him standing in front of her as soon as she walked through the door.

"They need our help!" she shouted in urgency, closing the small distance between them and handing him the paper. "They're in serious trouble. Tsunade-sama said they're terribly outnumbered and that one of them is severely injured."

Gaara took the paper and read through it quickly, analyzing the situation as his eyes scanned over the words. It was an emergency message from the Hokage, asking Sakura to make an official request for aid to the Kazekage. An ANBU team from Konoha had been sent on a mission to dispose of a renegade group that was hiding somewhere in the Rain Country. They proceeded with the mission but found that the rebel organization had managed to recruit quite a number of followers and the hunter nins had been forced to face a small army of insurgents without any warning. Ordering the retreat, the mission leader had tried to take them back to Konoha, but their enemies had blocked their path effectively and were now chasing them west, along the border of the Wind Country's desert. A team member had suffered from first degree injuries and needed immediate medical attention.

"We need to get going! Whoever's injured **needs** my help," Sakura was saying as she started pacing up and down his office, her face pale with anxiety and her voice betraying her nervousness.

It took one good look at the list of names on the team to know why she was so worried:

Hyuuga Neji

Nara Shikamaru

Inuzuka Kiba

Rock Lee

Aburame Shino

Tenten

Uzumaki Naruto

They were all her childhood friends and from what they knew, one of them could already be dead. The last name on the list even made _him_ feel some sort of trepidation.

"We'll get to them," he promised her, taking her by the arms and stopping her pacing. "Get your medical equipment read-"

"Kazekage-sama!" one of his men said suddenly from the vicinity of the doorway. "I'm sorry to interrupt but we just received an urgent missive. It was delivered to the gate guards by some strange insects. It's from an ANBU team from Kono-"

"It's THEM!" Sakura shouted instantly, stepping forward while Gaara took the paper from the man's hand and read it quickly. It gave them the team's precise location and stated that they were under attack. They needed help _immediately_ or else they wouldn't be able to make it. The injuries they had suffered prevented them from making a full retreat and they could only turn to Suna for aid.

The Kazekage looked up at Sakura, concern in his jade eyes. She looked so worried and anxious he thought his heart might break. Her face had gone even paler with this new and unexpected message. Gaara wished he could comfort her but he knew there was no time for that. He realized that not only was her village asking for his help, but _she_ herself was asking for it and he swore there and then that he would do anything in his capacity to save her friends.

Handing the note to her so that she could read it, Gaara started barking orders as he walked out of his office. He sent the man who had delivered the message to call his group of jounin on call and explain the situation to them.

"TEMARI, KANKUROU!" he bellowed as he walked briskly down the hallway, his shouts alerting the shinobi inside his building that something was wrong. In a blink of an eye, one of his assistants was kneeling in front of him, asking for orders. The Kazekage explained quickly and asked the kunoichi to organize a rescue team. By then, his brother was making his way hurriedly towards him, asking what had happened.

Still inside his office, Sakura stood reading the missive over and over again, her hand covering her mouth. A sense of foreboding settled in the pit of her stomach and no matter what she did, she wasn't able to shake free of it. Gaara's shouts brought her back to the present with a jolt and without thinking twice, she ran into the corridor after him.

He was speaking to Kankurou some distance away.

"…I will leave everything in your hands. I'm leaving immediately. Make sure you follow as soon as you can."

"Hai, Kazekage," the Puppet Master stated in all seriousness before turning around and walking down the corridor he had come from, intent on fulfilling his orders.

"Sakura," Gaara said, turning serious jade eyes towards her. "You have five minutes to get your things together. Meet me at the roof."

She nodded in answer, watching him walk away in the opposite direction with an air of authority. It never ceased to amaze her how easily he assumed leadership whenever there was a crisis and not for the first time, the pink haired medic was thankful that she he was there to walk beside her in this life.

Without hesitation, she swiftly turned in the direction of the infirmary, already making an inventory of the things she would most likely need for this mission. As she walked, she couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the sense of apprehension she had experienced beforehand and she found her feet walking faster by the second. She got her things together in record timing, placing them inside a specialized medic pack. She shouldered the bag as she went over her mental list to make sure she had everything she needed and once she was satisfied that she hadn't forgotten anything, the pink haired kunoichi flew up the stairs of the Kazekage's building, intent on finding her partner.

There was no time for fear in moments like these. She needed to concentrate on the task at hand or else she would be a failure… and that was something she would _never_ be. Whoever was injured out there was depending on her and she would not let her feelings of unease prevent her from performing her duties correctly. She _would _arrive on time and she would save her comrade in need. There was no room for defeat for this medic nin.

He was on the roof already; his white and blue Kage robes were gone, replaced by the black and dark red attire he preferred to use when going into battle. His confident and determined presence helped her to harden her resolve. With him by her side, she knew she would be able to make it. The sand from his gourd was swirling all around him and as soon as she placed a foot on the roof, the tendrils started making their way towards her, caressing her skin lovingly.

"Let's go," he told her as he ordered the sand to gather at his feet. He was in the air in seconds and hovered over to where Sakura was standing. Offering her his hand so she could climb up next to him, he looked her over once more, glad to see that she had recovered a little from her nervousness and now looked like the professional medic nin he had fallen in love with.

"Let's hurry," she told him as she grabbed his hand and stepped up beside him.

He grunted in response and ordered his sand to move. Together, they flew across the arid desert landscape and into the azure sky, two pairs of green eyes looking towards the horizon.

XXXXXXXXXX

The situation they were in was dire and no matter what Shikamaru came up with, the cons always seem to outnumber the pros. He knew he was being extremely hard on himself but it was in these situations that a shinobi's prowess had to excel… or else, they would end up being fodder for the army on their tail. It was his plan that had managed to get them running, escaping from the grasp of their enemy. But it had also been his plan that had backfired, forcing Tenten into such a vulnerable position.

The wound she had taken in an attempt to defend all of them and cause a distraction while they fled had almost cost her her life… and judging from the current situation, she might end up paying that price yet.

Raising his concerned eyes towards the limp form of their team's injured kunoichi, Shikamaru couldn't help but grimace at her condition. She was lying on the ground, her head pillowed by her backpack. There were gashes all over her body, blood seeping through her clothes… but the worst wound was the one on her leg. An enemy's sword had slashed almost completely through her thigh, reaching the very bone in a terrible gash. The blood loss she had suffered had been almost unbelievable and needless to say, she wasn't able to carry herself any longer. They had tied up the injury as best as they could and Shino even applied some of his basic medic skills to help. But all of them on the team knew that if they didn't get her to a professional medic soon, she would definitely lose her leg, if not her life.

Neji knelt before her, a running a wet cloth across her forehead. Even though the blade that had injured her wasn't poisoned, it was dirty enough to give her an infection and thus, she had been shivering from a fever for almost a day. Shikamaru had never seen the Hyuuga prodigy so worried. He never left Tenten's side if he could help it, always making sure that she was as comfortable as possible, even when she was strapped unto Naruto's back, a necessary measure they had needed to take to ensure their successful retreat. The blond, being the one with the most stamina, had been the ideal candidate to carry their injured comrade and had made sure that he kept in front of them as much as possible, just in case they were attacked from behind.

This, however, didn't mean that their Captain wouldn't stop fretting over Tenten and thus, whenever they stopped, Neji was beside Naruto in a flash, taking her in his arms. But her condition was deteriorating and to make matters even worse, they had been forced to make a stand since a group of their pursuers had actually caught up with them. They had been able to defend their ground and had shaken off the first few attacks. But Shikamaru knew that their enemy was persistent, especially when there were probably dozens of others coming in behind this scouting group harassing them and he knew he needed to come up with a backup plan, _soon_.

Shino had already sent some of his insects out towards Suna in a desperate attempt to call in for the Kazekage's reinforcements. But they didn't know when they would arrive and it was left to Shikamaru to come up to with something, _anything_, to get them out of the situation.

But as the expert strategist looked at Tenten, he knew his choices narrowed down to two options: making a last stand or leaving their injured comrade behind to face a certain death. By looking at their Captain, kneeling beside her with resolute silver eyes, he knew which one Neji would choose. Shikamaru knew that he would even go so far as to order the rest of them to escape while he stayed behind and defended her until his last breath.

Gritting his teeth, he forced his gaze away from the disheartening picture they made together and concentrated on evaluation the situation for the hundredth time. They were scattered behind a formation of boulders on the edge of the Wind Country's desert, the edge of the sand around 20 paces away. The rocks were located on the top of a hill, an extremely advantageous point when defending your position. Their enemies were hidden behind a grove of trees quite some distance away across an expanse of grass, after being forced to make a retreat following a vicious counterattack from the cornered ANBU team. This meant that if the rebel group decided to move forward, they would need to come out into the open, making then easy targets.

Even so, when _their_ reinforcements arrived, which Shikamaru knew would be soon, the small Konoha group would be done for.

Never in his life had he felt so helpless and the fact that his incredibly powerful brain didn't give him any options only helped to fuel the feeling of defeat. To think that this might be the last breathing moments of all of them… life had a funny way of turning out.

"They're coming!" Shino's shout alerted them all.

Jumping up to the top of the boulders they were hiding behind, the ANBU group lowered their masks and prepared for battle.

It seemed that the rest of the army had finally reached them.

Fifty men headed their way, weapons drawn and a battle cry on their lips.

From this distance, Shikamaru could see the second line of attackers biding their time near the edge of the faraway trees… their numbers increasing by the minute.

He looked over his comrades, all of them exhausted, their chakra systems almost depleted. Even Naruto seemed haggard and worn, the weight of Tenten's condition weighing on him physically as well as emotionally.

Shikamaru thought about the discussion he had had with the blue eyed man before; he had suggested they use the power of the Kyuubi to eliminate their enemies and complete their mission. But Naruto had instantly refused, saying that if he released the demon, he would not only cause the death of his enemies, but of his friends as well. He would rather die beside them than exist with the knowledge that he had ended their lives.

The expert strategist simply had to respect that.

"Let's do this," he said, speaking more calmly than he had thought he would be capable of.

"HAI!" the group answered as one as they jumped from the rocks and unto the grass, meeting their enemies charge with one of their own.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Ne….ji…" Tenten whispered. It was the first time she had been conscious since the previous night.

"Shhh, don't speak," he told her softly, as he lifted her head slightly so she could drink some water.

"You guys….need…to…leave," she said after she had managed to take a couple of swallows of the liquid.

The raven haired jounin simply shook his head, refraining from answering that statement. Leaving her behind simply wasn't an option, at least not for him… all ANBU protocol be damned!

It was then that he heard Shino's call and listening to the sounds of his team readying for battle. The bastards were coming again.

"I have to go," he whispered in her ear as he caressed her cheek with his fingertips. "I promise I'll be back."

"Get them for me," she told him, trying to smile. Even in this condition, her fiery personality refused to be extinguished.

Nodding as if he had just been giving a direct order, Neji took her hand in his and lifted it to his lips, kissing her knuckles softly. He stood up then and placed his ANBU mask over his face, never once losing eye contact with those earth brown eyes that had captivated him for most of his life.

"Stay alive for me, koishii," he told her just before he jumped into the air and landed some distance away, intent on fulfilling his lover's wish.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Over there!" Sakura screamed as she pointed to a spot on the ground. It had taken them over an hour to reach the desert border and the pink haired medic was getting more frantic by the minute.

At her shout, the sand immediately changed direction and started descending. Jade eyes narrowed as Gaara concentrated on the small figures on the land beneath him. A small group of six was apparently defending the top of a hill against a swarming horde of approximately seventy men. Some bodies lay on the grass near the top of the knoll but the assaulting group definitely had the prominent advantage of numbers.

Konoha's team had no chance of getting out of there alive.

"Hang on," the Kazekage said in a dangerously low voice, his anger at the hopeless situation of his allies clearly evident.

Sakura did as she was told, wrapping her arms around his torso as he increased the speed of his flying sand to the utmost limits, heading directly towards the battle scene below at an incredibly rapid pace.

"Hurry," she whispered, her plea echoing in his ear.

He nodded slowly, calling upon his sand as they approached.

No one made his girl worry and walked away unscathed.

XXXXXXXXXX

"We can't keep this up much longer," Kiba said desperately, panting heavily as he engaged yet another enemy with his kunai while Akamaru bit down on another man's torso.

"I know," Shikamaru replied with a shout as he buried his own weapon in his opponent's ribs, watching Lee's back as the taijutsu master took on more opponents than he could count.

"Damn you all!" Naruto screamed in rage as he attempted to push back another group of assailants using his Kage-Bunshin.

"What's that?" Neji shouted all of a sudden, bringing his Kaiten spin to a stop, tuning even more into his highly developed senses.

"What's wha-" the blue-eyed blond started to say but then he suddenly noticed what their Captain was talking about.

There was loud rumble coming from deep within the earth, which was increasing by the second, as if the ground itself was waking up and voicing its discontent at being disturbed. As it started to shake slightly, a loud hissing sound resonated from behind them and it was then that Naruto realized that the situation seemed unnervingly familiar.

"ALL OF YOU, JUMP BACK TO THE BOULDERS! **NOW**!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Obeying the order behind the alerting shout instantly, the ANBU team disengaged from battle and ran back up the hill, using the opportunity of their enemy's surprise at this new development to flee. They jumped up unto the rocks they had been previously defending, confused and startled as well.

"Naruto, what the-" Shikamaru started to say but as he looked up from where he was standing, his words simply died on his lips.

There, silhouetted against a deep blue sky, stood Suna's Kazekage in mid-air; arms uplifted towards the endless expanse above him, there was a sand wave of _gargantuan_ proportions rising behind him, ready to strike the ground beneath it.

It seemed that he had called upon all the sand of the desert and it was ready to obey his every whim.

"Holy shi-", Kiba started to say but as he did so, the gigantic wave split in two, moving forward with impressive speed and going around the boulders the ANBU team was standing on. In mere seconds, it tumbled down upon the running forms of their previous enemies, swirling all around them and drowning them in its flow.

All of them could only stand in awed silence as they saw the sand continue down the hill, reaching the distant grove of trees their enemies were using as a hiding spot and suddenly uplifting them by the roots. Painful scream echoed throughout the landscape but were abruptly deadened by the continuous roar of the sand as it swirled endlessly.

Naruto looked up then, gratefulness at his friend's impeccable timing on his face but as he saw Gaara descend some more, he quickly caught sight of a pink haired head peeking from behind the Kazekage's shoulder.

"Sakura!" he shouted, relief at her arrival washing through him.

Tenten might just make it yet.

All the others turned their eyes up at his shout and watched the medic smile back as she held on to Gaara's torso with her arms.

Sakura's happiness at finding them alive was short lived however, when she noticed the prone form of her fellow kunoichi lying behind a large stone, completely still.

"TENTEN!" she screamed. "Gaara get me down, she needs my help!"

Obeying the urgency in her voice without thinking twice, the redhead lowered his cluster of sand just enough so that she could jump from it to the ground while he proceeded to move forward, heading towards the sea of sand he had recently created over the land.

Sakura landed gracefully a couple of paces away from the fallen kunoichi, making her way towards her immediately. She was examining her before she landed on her knees beside her, assessing her condition and going over her injuries in a hurry.

She spotted Tenten's leg a couple of seconds later and she let out a harsh hiss through her teeth. Cutting the bandages around her thigh with a kunai, she examined the injury more carefully, her mouth setting in a grim line. No wonder Tsunade-sama had asked for her help directly! A lesser medic wouldn't have been able to handle this kind of wound without sacrificing the kunoichi's leg. Even _she_ wasn't sure if she would be forced to do just if her techniques didn't work.

It was then that she turned round to take off her backpack and saw Tenten's brown eyes looking up at her, completely conscious.

The pink haired medic leaned in and held her face in her hand for a moment. "Stay strong, my friend. We'll get you through this," she whispered fiercely.

The brown haired Weapon Master smiled lightly. "I…know. I'm now in… good hands." And with that, she closed her eyes again, losing her awareness.

It was then that the apprehension she had been experiencing since receiving the Godaime's note disappeared. The task she needed to perform was now clear and she would not falter. Sakura's resolve hardened and her emerald eyes darkened with determination.

"NEJI!" she barked.

The ANBU Captain was beside her in a second.

"What do you need?" he asked, silver gaze looking over Tenten in concern.

"We need to move her to even ground, the slant of the hill won't allow me to work properly," Sakura replied, standing quickly. "Bring her over here."

The Hyuuga prodigy followed her orders, picking the brown haired kunoichi with ease and stepping up to where the medic had arranged a blanket at the base of the knoll, near the edge of the desert.

In that instant, a reverberating bellow echoed throughout the landscape.

"SABAKU TAISO!"

The ground shook with the force of Gaara's jutsu despite it being directed in the opposite direction, the unexpected jolt forcing Neji to catch his balance. Amazement at the Kazekage's astonishing strength quickly followed and he looked down at Sakura with impressed silver eyes as he approached her once more.

The pink haired kunoichi smiled momentarily, as if used to the redhead's doings. But her face resumed its seriousness quickly, concentrating on the task at hand. Neji imitated her as he placed Tenten down carefully and knelt beside her, his face solemn. He stayed completely still as he listened to Sakura's instructions.

"I'm going to need your help," she told him as she rummaged through her pack and took out her medical equipment. "I'm about to use an incredibly advanced jutsu, since it's the only way I'll be able to save her leg. Even so, I'm not sure how effective it will be. I need you to use your Byakugan and tune into her chakra… if there is the slightest change in her flow, let me know _immediately_."

Silver eyes locked on emerald, both of them aware of the seriousness of the situation.

Neji nodded gravely. "Do what you have to do."

"I'll get her through this," Sakura told him, leaning over to squeeze his arm for a second. "I promise."

And with that, she suddenly spread a large scroll she had taken out of her backpack. As she ran a chakra-enhanced hand over the kanji on it, the symbols started flaming with a green light, floating up from the paper to attach themselves unto Sakura's palm and fingers. She repeated the process with her other hand, leaving part of the scroll blank, aware that she would only be able to recharge the jutsu four more times before the kanji ran out.

"Here we go," she said, determination and resolution in her voice.

She leaned over Tenten's leg, her concentration narrowing down to the wound before her. Nothing in the world would be able to come between her and her goal now.

XXXXXXXXXX

"They're cunning bastards, I'll give them that," Shikamaru said as he came to stand next to Kiba, who had, along with Akamaru, been trying to track the men that had managed to escape Gaara's onslaught.

Even though the Kazekage's attack had been extremely precise and vicious, some of the most experienced insurgents were able to escape the rolling mass of sand. Now, they didn't know exactly how many had survived and were still out there, which meant that if they decided to counterattack sometime during the night, their group didn't know against how many they would be forced to fight.

Things had gotten better however, when Temari and Kankurou had arrived around late afternoon with a group of Suna's jounin. Still, they were only 20 altogether and when they had met up with the rebel group for the first time at their hideout, Shikamaru had calculated that there were around 200 of them. Even if Gaara had managed to wipe out half of them, they were still badly outnumbered.

If the survivors managed to find a way to avoid the redhead's sand or to distract him, the rest of them might be in serious trouble, especially when the exhaustion of the past three days were starting to take a toll on their team from Konoha.

But Shikamaru refused to think about it any further, his body finally succumbing to fatigue. He turned to look up at where Gaara was standing next to Naruto, looking very much like the leader he was. As was usually the case, his large gourd was strapped to his back as he stood with his arms crossed in front of him, taking _everything_ in with calculating jade eyes. Even though he looked calm and collected, all of the members of the ANBU team, and all those shinobi from Suna, knew that the redhead would be ready to go into action and to make decisions on the spot. They could definitely count on him defending them for the time being. It was amazing to think about how much the redhead had actually changed, not only mentally, but physically as well. His mind had matured while his body gained in strength as well.

And judging from the level of the attack he had launched a couple of hours back, there wasn't the slightest doubt as to why he had been elected Kazekage.

"Come on, Kiba," Shikamaru said to the Canine Specialist, "we should get some rest."

"You should," Kankurou said sternly as he walked up to both of them. "In your condition, you won't be able to be much help if a fight breaks out. We've already established a camp, go sleep for a bit."

"Bah," Kiba grumbled good-naturedly as he started walking away, "just because we've saved each other's lives a couple of times, you think you can give us orders."

The Puppet Master laughed out loud at that but refrained from commenting, returning to bark out orders to some jounins nearby.

"Did you find anything?" Naruto asked as Kiba and Shikamaru approached to where he and Gaara were standing.

"No, I'm afraid not," Kiba replied, "neither did Akamaru."

"I see," the blond replied, a bit concerned.

"I already sent a small team to comb the area," Gaara replied, his voice authoritative. "They will report to me if they find anything. All of you should concentrate on getting some rest."

"Geez, what's with these Suna siblings?" Kiba asked in mock exasperation as the four men started heading back to the camp, "all of them think they can order us around all of sudden!"

Naruto laughed out loud and slapped Gaara on the back cheerfully. The redhead's eyes narrowed at the unexpected gesture but his lips tilted upwards ever so slightly when he realized that it was meant as a sign of friendship.

They found Shino sitting atop one of the boulders, his gaze watching something intently on the other side of the stone. As all of them walked around the large rock to see what he was looking at, they found Sakura leaning over Tenten's leg, hands glowing green with chakra as she treated her while Neji knelt on the brown haired kunoichi's other side. Lee was sitting some distance away, watching fixedly as well, his lips set in a grim line of determination, as if he could make his team mate get better by the force of his will.

The laughs they had been sharing a moment ago immediately disappeared and by their own accord, the three remaining Konoha ANBU went to sit beside Lee, refusing to rest until their pink haired medic finished her procedure and let them know what Tenten's condition was.

To everyone's slight surprise, the Kazekage silently made his way to stand behind Sakura, as if watching over her protectively. As he did so, he cocked his head to the side, as if analyzing something only he could see. It seemed he was satisfied with whatever he saw and a couple of tendrils of sand left his gourd a moment later, only to pull back a few strands of lose hair that were falling on Sakura's face and wipe the sweat from her forehead carefully.

The pink haired medic felt the movement immediately and as the tendrils hovered slightly over her skin, she rubbed her cheek into the sand for a moment, as if drawing strength from the caress. She didn't look up towards him, since her concentration on her task refused to be broken, but she acknowledged the redhead's solid presence behind her and it seemed to feed her resolve.

Naruto, mouth wide open, turned to look at Shikamaru and Kiba. Both men turned to look at him with evident shock in their eyes, as if they thought that the display they had just witnessed was a figment of their imagination.

The blond simply shook his head in wonderment, a wide smile spreading across his face despite the dire situation.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I'm done," Sakura said triumphantly sometime later, wrapping Tenten's leg carefully in bandages. The symbols on her scroll were almost entirely gone and the sun was already low on the horizon.

Slumping backwards, she felt the press of hard sand against her back, steadying her. Gaara knelt beside her a second later, taking her in with concerned jade eyes. She smiled reassuringly at him while taking his hand in hers. He squeezed her fingers affectionately but remained silent.

"How is she?" Lee asked as the rest of them came to stand around Tenten and the medic.

"She's stable now, thankfully," the pink haired medic replied, completely exhausted. "I managed to save her leg but I don't know to what extent she'll be able to use it."

"What does that mean?" Neji asked as he looked up from where he was caressing the brown haired kunoichi's hair. The anxiety in his voice had lessened greatly, but his tone was still worried.

"It means that she will be able to walk but I'm not sure if she'll be able to recover from this injury 100. It might affect her profession as a shinobi." Sakura replied, sighing slightly. "In truth, I really don't know what level of rehabilitation she will be able to undertake without overtaxing her leg. Only time will tell."

The ANBU Captain nodded slowly, taking in the information but deciding to worry about it later. All that mattered now was the fact that Tenten was alive and that she would be well.

"Not to worry! I shall give her the same physical therapy I underwent! She's still in the prime of her youth!" Lee exclaimed enthusiastically, eyes shining with unshed tears.

At that overly passionate display of drama, the group burst into much needed laughter, the stress of the situation they had just gone through alleviating greatly.

Sakura put her legs underneath her and stood up slowly, the sand behind her assisting her in the process. "All of you should get some rest," she said in her best professional voice.

Coming from their pink haired medic, none of them, not even Kiba, complained about the order they had just been given.

"You should rest too, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, coming up to hug his life-long friend.

"I will," Sakura said as she embraced him back happily.

Gaara stood nearby, his forehead creasing at the display of affection between the two friends, irritation in his gaze.

As Naruto stepped back, Neji unexpectedly walked up to Sakura from where he had been kneeling. He bowed formally in front of her for a moment before he stepped up and embraced her tightly, surprising all of them with his open demonstration of emotion.

"Thank you," he said simply, his voice strained with sentiment. "I don't think I will ever be able to repay what you have done for her."

The pink haired smiled, a tear threatening to fall from her eyes at the Hyuuga's sincere tone. "You don't need to repay me," she said softly. "As long as you're beside her, she'll be alright."

Naruto turned to look at Gaara then, only to find the redhead's chakra swirling with barely contained violence. If he didn't know better, he would've sworn that the Kazekage was about to burst into a loud rant of complaints concerning the casual handling of his girlfriend. The blond almost choked on his laughter at this unexpected sight and he inwardly wondered at the amazing changes Sakura had brought about in his fellow Jinchuuriki.

Neji nodded swiftly and then stepped back as quickly as he had approached. But before he turned to Tenten, he looked up at Gaara and grasped his shoulder tightly with his hand before the redhead could protest.

"I want to thank you as well," he said. "Without your aid, none of us would not be standing here alive."

The redhead's anger suddenly dissipated only to be replaced by confusion. He suddenly hesitated and looked at Sakura as if silently asking how he should behave. Formal requests and diplomatic dealings he could handle. But this? His girl simply smiled from behind her hand at his evident discomfort and seeing that he wouldn't be getting any help from her, he looked up back towards Neji.

"You're welcome," he said, faltering slightly, extremely aware of all the people looking at him expectantly.

The ANBU Captain smiled at him, a genuine and grateful smile, before turning round and picking Tenten up carefully in his arms.

"Ask Temari to get a special bedroll ready for her," Sakura said as he started walking away. "She really needs the extra warmth. Her fever should have dissipated completely by now, but if it returns during the night, let me know right away."

Neji nodded in response, making his way to where the dark blond kunoichi was standing with a group of shinobi.

"Great job, Sakura," Shino said, stepping up to her. "You should really give me some special medic lessons whenever you have the chance..."

But as he got closer, Gaara suddenly grabbed Sakura by the arm, pulling her against him, silently stating that any more 'hugging sessions' from their part would bring disastrous results. Jade eyes narrowed dangerously at the insect wielder and Shino suddenly went very still.

It was simply too much to take in.

Naruto burst into loud guffaws of laughter, Kiba and Shikamaru joining in, while Lee simply looked puzzled.

Shino lifted his hands in front of him in a pacifying gesture and stepped back, taking the opportunity of the sudden distraction to get to a safe distance.

This brought about another wave of intense laughter.

"Come on guys, it looks like the Kazekage needs some 'private time'," Naruto said between loud chuckles. "We'll get a chance to catch up tomorrow, right Sakura?"

"Of course," she replied a bit exasperated at her lover's behaviour. "We have a _lot_ to talk about."

"Just make sure you keep the racoon leashed," the blond Jinchuuriki replied before he could help himself. He darted away hurriedly, his team mates' loud laughter echoing all around as they sped up to flee right behind him, looking very much like the group of children they had once been.

"**WHAT** DID Y-" Gaara started to bellow but Sakura silenced him by stepping up on the tip of her toes and planting a kiss on his lips.

The redhead growled deep in his throat, letting her know that Naruto wasn't going to get away with that statement but allowing himself to be kissed. She laughed lightly at his irritation but placed her arms around his neck, burying her face in his chest as if seeking comfort.

At the gesture, the redhead could do nothing but swallow his ire for the time being and lift up his arms to embrace her tightly. He buried his own face in her bright cherry locks, breathing in her scent.

"Thank you," she said suddenly, lifting her head up to face him.

Gaara's jade eyes showed his sudden puzzlement at her words.

"It was thanks to you that my friends are safe and it was thanks to you that I was able to save Tenten's life."

He half-smiled at her then, nodding slightly before bringing his forehead to rest against hers.

They stayed like that for a few moments, enjoying each other's silent company.

But Sakura's exhaustion started to take its toll on her. She lowered her face and groaned lightly against his throat before speaking.

"Take me to bed," she requested softly, becoming slightly limp in his arms, letting him know exactly how tired she was.

"With pleasure," he replied in a low murmur as he brought his lips to her ear.

She swatted him playfully. "I didn't mean it _that_ way, you insatiable man."

Gaara's deep chuckles sounded like music to her ears as he picked her up and carried her towards the camp.

* * *

Well, that came out longer than I expected! I really enjoyed myself with this one and I hope you guys did too. Like I said before, this will have a continuation so you can expect an update sometime soon.

Thanks for reading!


	10. Nightmare

**A/N: **Just another quick one-shot for this series. This is just an interlude from the previous chapter story line. FYI, the Konoha jounins are still in Suna and they'll be coming up in later chapters.

Hope you enjoy it guys!

* * *

_Summary: _the demons of the past that surge in the middle of the night are not to be feared when he lies right next to her.

* * *

Twirling round with this familiar parable,  
Spinning, weaving round each new experience,  
Recognize this as a holy gift and celebrate this chance to be alive and breathing.  
This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality,  
Embrace this moment. Remember.  
We are eternal.  
All this pain is an illusion.

_Parabola, _Tool

* * *

There was a body on the ground in front of her, lying completely still and giving no outward signs of life. 

As she tried to concentrate enough to perform one of her many healing jutsus, she was aware of others gathering around her… of others coming to stand around the kneeling medic nin and the fallen team mate who desperately needed help. Their expectations and hopefulness hung in the air, feeling amazingly tangible, as if she could reach out and touch them. They were counting on her to save this person, that much was certain. She was the medic of the team, the one who saved comrades in the heat of battle. It was her _duty_ to save lives and she would give anything in her power to bring back others from the brink of death.

Her vision was blurry and the world seemed to be immersed in shadows. Images shifted before her eyes but she banished them. There was only one thing she needed to focus on in this moment and it was the person right in front of her.

As she reached out her hand towards the body, she felt her heart accelerate with the common rush of adrenaline that surged whenever she was about to lose herself in her medical techniques.

Flashes of Tenten's face flew before her eyes. Her female friend had needed immediate treatment or else the risk of infection would be too great. The nasty leg wound she had suffered had been allowed to fester without any professional medic attention. The jounin team hadn't been allowed the time to stop and treat it properly. Remembering this, Sakura reached directly towards her friend's legs… but as she looked them over, she realized there wasn't anything wrong with them. There simply wasn't any wound to treat.

In fact, the person in front of her wasn't a kunoichi.

It was a man.

Shaking her head as if coming out of a stupor, the pink haired medic tried to get her bearings. She ignored the confusion and commenced by examining the person in front of her thoroughly, going over their legs one more time and slowly moving up towards their torso with her chakra-infused hands.

If it wasn't Tenten before her, then who was it?

But she was too focused her hands as she desperately tried to find what was wrong with him to even consider looking up at his face.

She remembered they'd arrived just in time to save her friends and drove the renegade group off successfully. None of her other fellow Konoha nin's had been injured… at least, not seriously enough for them to be lying on the ground like this. No ninja from Suna had been injured either.

Her frustration escalated to unimaginable levels as she continued to concentrate her chakra on the person before without getting any results. She couldn't find what was wrong. His chakra system simply wasn't responding to her probing and wasn't sending signals back.

It was as if it were completely collapsed.

As if the person was already dead.

She was too late.

As the thought came tumbling into her mind, her vision suddenly cleared and the people all around here came into focus. She saw many faces she didn't know but some of them were familiar. Naruto, Neji, Lee along with Kakashi-sensei and Gai-san. They were all standing nearby, their faces turned downwards in grief.

Kankurou and Temari were there, the pain on their expressions too keen to be described by words.

Sakura recognized the scene immediately.

Fear gripped her heart from within, invading her senses until all she could do was breathe the paralyzing terror that began to tear her apart. If she looked down to the person on the ground before her, she knew exactly who she would find.

'This can't be happening… this can't be happening.' She repeated the words like a mantra within her mind, wishing it all to go away. Closing her eyes, she decided this all had to be a dream, a very bad dream. The events that were taking place had already happened… they _couldn't_ be changed.

But when her emerald orbs opened and she took in the people around her once more, she realized that the horrifying scene before her wasn't going to disappear. Looking up towards her friends, she desperately tried to catch their eyes. But they weren't gazing at her; they were simply too caught up in the sadness of loss to regard the pink haired kunoichi who couldn't do anything more to help her lover.

"Naruto," Sakura whispered, trying to make her best friend face her, to tell her that everything would be fine. But her voice was lost among the deadening silence and it didn't even reach her own ears.

Left with no choice, her heart beating frantically with fear, the pink haired kunoichi looked down.

He was dead.

The handsome redheaded man she loved so much was dead.

With his pale skin and black rims around his eyes, he lay utterly still. He would not be moving ever again.

She wanted to scream, wanted to rage… wanted to tear her heart beating hands out with her own hands. She felt something inside her mind snap, as if her psyche simply couldn't handle what her senses were telling her and was trying to separate itself into a thousand pieces, never to be arranged in the same order once more.

Haruno Sakura was lost and there was no bringing her back. The body she inhabited was only a case, a vessel with no one living inside of it.

In the midst of her desperation, a thought managed to filter through the miasma and she clung to it like a lifeline.

'Chiyo-baasama! Chiyo-baasama!'

It was amazing how the entire hope of single person could be contained in a simple name.

'She's here, I know she's here! She was with me!' Sakura thought anxiously as she snapped her head up and looked all around her. 'She was right next to me, dammit! Chiyo-baasama can help, she's the only one that can save him.'

The experienced old lady with the wrinkled face and the gift of self-sacrifice was the only opportunity Gaara had left.

Emerald eyes searched desperately through the gathered crowd, scanning face after face, trying to find the one who would bring back her redheaded lover from the dead. But try as she might, she simply couldn't find her.

She simply wasn't there.

"**Chiyo-baasama!**" Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice breaking with raw need and desperation.

_Isn't that typical of human nature,_ said a deep dark voice from somewhere nearby. It was only after a few moments that she realized that it was coming from within her. _To sacrifice someone else for your selfish needs. Doesn't the old lady have the same right to live as he does?_

_What kind of medic nin are you?_

Her mind finally succumbed to the pressure and broke, a thousand pieces being carried in the wind, never to return.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Waking up with an earth-shattering jolt, Sakura opened her mouth to elicit a deafening scream but she found that her voice had simply left her. Cold sweat covered her skin and dampened her hair, the shaking of her limbs only adding to the emotional turmoil flooding her entire body.

"Finally," she heard a familiar deep voice say close to her ear, the relief in his tone evident.

She choked on her own breath and started coughing frantically, only to realize that she was being held by two strong arms. Her face was resting against a solid male chest and when her senses finally started reacting normally, she found she had been deposited in his lap while she was still asleep.

"What's wrong?" Gaara asked anxiously, an undertone of irritation in his question. She couldn't see his face in the dark but she knew that if she were to look into his eyes, she would encounter a glint of temper in his jade orbs at not knowing what was happening to her.

In any other occasion she would've smiled at that but now, as the memories of the horrendous nightmare she had experienced came back to her, Sakura could only throw her arms around him and bury her face at the base of his neck.

The way she was clinging to him made him nervous. Hell, the whole way she had been thrashing around on the bed a minute ago had his nerves crawling on edge. His pink haired lover wasn't prone to frightening dreams and in all the time they had been together, he had never seen her react like this to the illusions she saw in her sleep.

For the Kazekage, a man who had never slept in his entire life, dreams were of an incredibly elusive nature and no matter how he tried, he simply couldn't understand what it was to experience them. Sure, he lost himself in deep meditations every night and would sometimes encounter visions, strange and wonderful, but he would always be in control. Whenever he meditated, he knew he was the one controlling the sights before him, not the other way around and if he came across something that didn't sit well with him, he simply left and lifted back to consciousness.

From what he had been told, the common dreams people went through during their slumber were nothing like that. They had direct power over the dreamer and the person would experience them as they were truly happening, as if they were truly living whatever their unconscious state had brought to the surface.

His worry for the woman in his arms increased tenfold and the way she clung to him like if she never wanted to let go simply made his heart beat with concern for her.

When she had brought him out of his meditation with her anguished moans and sniffles, Gaara had simply sat up next to her and had tried to wake her up. It seemed like she was completely disconnected from the real world however, for no matter how much he shook her or called her name, she refused to wake. Not knowing what else to do, he had thrown the covers off her and had lifted her into his lap, continuing to call out to her. It was only after another couple of anguish filled minutes that she screamed out a name, a name that made his jade eyes widen, and finally awoke from her nightmare.

Returning her embrace with equal eagerness, he moved them into a more comfortable position. He sat with his back against the head of the bed and stretched Sakura over his length. She was partially on top of him, clutching his neck like she was, allowing him to embrace her freely and wrap his legs around hers. Since he had never been very good with words, he wanted his body to remind her of his presence, to let her know that he would protect her against any enemy, no matter how elusive.

"Daijoubu," he whispered simply as he buried his nose in her hair and tenderly caressed her back.

It was like opening a flood gate.

Heart breaking sobs shook her frame and Gaara could feel the tremors of her crying throughout his entire body. He felt her wet tears trail down his naked chest, increasing his irritation at not knowing what had caused them. If there was something the redhead abhorred, it was to see Sakura cry. Most of the time, the reason would be quite obvious: he would usually screw things up without noticing, as he was wont to do, but would manage to discover his mistake in time to rectify it. When the cause of her crying was due to external factors, he simply got rid of them. Like the time one of her genin students made a callous remark about the hue of her hair; it had been something completely childish and for some inexplicable reason he simply couldn't grasp, it had gotten to her. He'd found her moping in the bathroom amid a fit of sniffles. Gaara had sent the kid flying out the window within a cloud of sand the first chance he got, without her knowing it of course. The boy learned his lesson and actually brought her flowers to the next class. His intervention had been a success.

But now, with her crying in his arms at 3:30 in the morning after having a nightmare, there was no way of knowing what was causing her tears until she spoke. There was nothing left to do but wait until the storm passed.

Another one of the things Gaara truly hated was waiting.

If there was a problem, he would always look for an immediate solution that would solve the issue in the quickest way possible. Nonetheless, there was really nothing to do in this case but to wait for his pink haired lover to calm down enough for her to be able to form a coherent sentence. Thus, breathing in deeply and reigning in his temper, he remained quiet as he held her, caressing her hair and kissing the top of her head from time to time.

Sakura didn't know exactly how long he held her. It could've been minutes or it could've been hours. All she knew was that the pain of loss that her dream had made her live through had shaken her to the very core. The memory of Gaara's demise at the hands of Akatsuki had been buried deep within her and she had never truly looked upon it under the light of their blooming relationship.

Now, after her subconscious had brought it back to the surface, the implications of what might have happened back then were suddenly stampeding over her. To think that the Kazekage had actually been dead for a length of time when they got to him; to know that if it hadn't been for Chiyo-baasama, he never would've walked beside her in life.

She had almost lost him without knowing that he was meant to be hers.

This realization brought a whole new sting to the pain she was already experiencing and she simply couldn't prevent the burning tears that kept streaming down her cheeks. She buried her face further into his neck, trying unsuccessfully to keep her sobs in check. His arms tightened around her even more in response and the pink haired medic tried to find comfort in the strength of his solid presence.

Gaara had heard that your inner demons would usually filter through your dreams, forcing you to face them. Strangely enough, he knew what this was like even though his experience hadn't been exactly the same. All his life he had been battling a demon, and a very live one at that, within himself. He remembered what it was like to fear sleep above anything else and to know that if he were to slip even a single time, his soul would be consumed whole, leaving nothing left to be salvaged. It had taken _years_ of discipline to be able to dominate the mind techniques that allowed him to rest his body without letting go of his mind. Shukaku still stirred but finally knew who was in control; he remained though, lurking in the shadows just waiting for Gaara to make a mistake.

Indeed, he knew what it was like to face your inner demon. That's why he had and inkling about what Sakura was going through, despite his inexperience in the field of dreams. Thus, he held her quietly and waited for the storm to pass.

It was after a while that the pink haired medic finally started to calm down. Taking in a deep shuddering breath, her sobs managed to lessen to an occasional hiccup as she lifted her face away from Gaara's neck. She didn't look up at him though, not until she had wiped away the remaining tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand.

The redhead didn't say anything. He simply waited for her to look up at him, the look in his eyes voicing the words he didn't need to say out loud.

_Talk to me._

Knowing that she needed to give him an explanation soon or else his temper would start to manifest itself, Sakura looked up at his face. The room was dark but a little light from the street lamps outside filtered through the shades of the window. She could see his features, bathed in shadow as they were, filled with worry and concern.

With his tousled hair and slightly confused expression, he looked terribly handsome.

Her heart clenched slightly in pain as images from her dream started to flood back into her mind. The crying threatened to recommence but she held it in check. She was stronger than this, damn it! She couldn't afford to let a nightmare affect her so much. It _wasn't_ real.

Gathering what remained of her strength, she lifted her hand to cup his cheek before she spoke.

"I almost lost the chance to love you. I almost lost you without knowing what I was losing."

He narrowed his eyes in confusion, not quite understanding what she was saying. But the sudden lump in her throat at having him here with her, alive and breathing, prevented her from saying anything else. She suddenly needed to touch him, to caress his skin, to run her fingers through his hair… she needed to be assured that the man in front of her, the temperamental and passionate Kazekage in the bed with her, was real.

Her hands moved of their own accord and her fingertips explored his face. Sakura's movements were slow but the slight shaking of her hands betrayed her desperation. Gaara simply looked at her, allowing her caresses to continue unhindered, as he tried to comprehend the meaning behind the words she had said.

It suddenly dawned on him when he remembered the name she had cried while immersed in her nightmare.

Chiyo-baasama.

Sakura had dreamed of the day they had rescued him from Akatsuki.

Of the day he had died.

Her weeping, her desperation and the jagged heartbreaking sobs that had been shuddering across her lithe frame up until now were suddenly revealed in a new light.

She wasn't the only one who had almost lost that day.

Lifting his own hands, he cradled her face. Her eyes were still moist and he could see the reflection of unshed tears even with the little light filtering through the window. He brushed the wet streaks on her cheeks using his thumbs, never looking away from her eyes as he did so.

It was easy to lose yourself sometimes in the tide of thoughts that brought the maddening query of 'what if' into your life. Gaara had done it a few times on those days when things seemed to slow down and the mind was prone to wondering how it all could have turned out if things had been different. All those small events at specific moments in time that shaped the path you were currently walking on, what if they had happened in a different way? What would've happened if he'd never gone to Konoha for his first chuunin exam? What would've happened if he'd never met Naruto… or Sakura?

What would've happened if he'd died during birth with his mother? Would his father have found another vessel for Shukaku? Or would've Suna's history been free of such a monstrosity?

The number of these kinds of questions was staggering and you would be able to keep asking them until the very end of your life, not knowing the answer.

But that, in itself, was the important thing. To recognize that they _didn't_ have answers. It was pointless to speculate on how things could've turned out if events had taken place in completely different manner. You couldn't change the past… you could only learn to live with it, to learn from it. Being the leader of a shinobi village, the Kazekage had come to gain that knowledge the hard way, knowing very well that you couldn't make effective decisions if you were intent on harbouring regret.

Regret clouded the mind and it had no place when you were making choices that would endanger the lives of your shinobi or of the citizens of your village. You simply _couldn't_ predict every single possible circumstance that could take place and more often than not, certain aspects of life were simple out of your hands. Coming to terms with that was a lesson in humility, especially if events brought great loss and grief with them.

Therefore, it was more useful to let things go… to learn from them. It was pointless to concentrate on how events might've taken place. It was useless to focus on things that didn't happen instead of on the things that actually _did_.

And in this case, Gaara knew that what had led after the day in which he had been brought to life had changed his existence in more positive ways than he ever could have imagined possible.

Sakura knew this too… she just needed to be reminded of it.

Leaning forward, he brushed his lips against hers softly and very slowly. The feel of their mouths touching tenderly lingered in complete contrast with the usually passionate way with which they kissed while in bed. The affection in Gaara's unhurried actions almost made Sakura's heart burst and she let out a deep sigh of relief as she lost herself in the sensations he was stirring, letting go of the anxiety brought on by her nightmare.

His hands left her cheeks and travelled down her neck, sliding across her shoulders and down the skin of her arms. The caring touch of his fingertips was light, barely there, but it conveyed all the words of comfort that he wasn't saying.

_I'm here… with you. _This_ is real._

Gaara didn't need to say them. Sakura knew very well that he was a man of actions and of very few words. She loved him for it. Throughout their relationship she'd learned to accurately translate the things he did into the messages he was trying to express.

His hands continued their journey, lifting them over her sides and caressing her through the tank top she loved to sleep in. Their lips never broke contact and as his fingertips lingered unhurriedly across her skin, she felt the natural response to Gaara's touch inside her body. It was amazing sometimes how he could ignite her desire without even really trying…how he could make her forget everything else but his masculine presence.

Sakura deepened their kiss with a moan she couldn't help but utter. Brushing her tongue against his lower lip before seeking entrance into his mouth, she asked for him to make her forget once again. She didn't want to think about anything else in that moment but him.

Responding with a muffled growl and with the fervour that always rested just underneath the surface when it came to his pink haired woman, Gaara returned her kiss, taking control of their exchange. A few moments later, he divested her of her shirt as he lifted her to straddle his hips and proceeded to leave a hot wet trail across the skin of her shoulders with his tongue.

As she instinctively threaded her finger through his hair in an attempt to pull him closer, Sakura knew he was the only one who could drive her nightmares away.

And with the zealous drive with which he always tackled things in life, the redheaded Kazekage proceeded to do just that, driving away all her demons as they met the new day in the bliss of their lovemaking.

* * *

Thanks for reading, minna! 


End file.
